- Petritsch requested BiH political leaders to urgently find concrete solutions for the implementation of the constitutional reforms SDA loses optimism after the meeting of the leading RS and Federation political parties with the High Representative A trial of the century continues in The Hague Vecernji List: OHR requests proper court’s registration of the HDZ BiH HDZ responds to media speculations related to its court’s registration Croatian foreign minister says Croatia is drafting BiH Constitution ICTY spokeswoman says Carla Del Ponte is coming to pick Karadzic up Serbian Justice Minister comments on the RS authorities’ request regarding extradition of ICTY indictees Belgrade attempted to persuade Mladic to surrender? Petritsch says still unsatisfied with what has been done since his arrival in BiH
BiH State-related Issues
A consultative meeting of the Partnership Forum held in Sarajevo
At a consultative meeting in Sarajevo on Thursday, the members of the Partnership Forum concluded that the constitutional reforms had to be implemented in a month, more precisely by March 15 at the latest. “The BiH Constitutional Court’s ruling on the constituency of the peoples must be implemented by the domestic institutions and with an assistance of the international community,” BiH Council of Ministers Chairman Zlatko Lagumdzija told journalists following the meeting. According to Oslobodjenje, the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, did not want to answer a journalist’s questions whether he would impose the amendments to the entities’ Constitutions if the authorities in BiH fail to meet this deadline. However, he said he believed the entities Constitutions would be harmonized with the BiH Constitution. Apart from the constitutional reforms, the Forum members also discussed the organization of the next elections, which will take place on October 5, the CIPS project implementation and an urgent need for the establishment of the BiH State Court. BiH Minister of Civil Affairs and Communications Svetozar Mihajlovic, BiH Treasury Minister Anto Domazet, BiH Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Minister Azra Hadziahmetovic, BiH Minister for the European Integration Dragan Mikerevic and BiH Minister for Human Rights and Refugees Kresimir Zubak also attended the meeting.
Beriz Belkic assumes duties of the BiH Presidency Chairman
Oslobodjenje reports that, under the eight-month rotation rule, Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency on Thursday assumed duties of the BiH Presidency Chairman succeeding in the Office his Croat colleague Jozo Krizanovic. The ceremony was attended by top international officials in BiH including the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch and Head of the UN Mission to Bi9H Jacques Paul Klein, as well as representatives of the BiH state institutions headed by BiH Council of Ministers Chairman Zlatko Lagumdzija, According to the newspaper, the representatives from the Republika Srpska did not attend the ceremony.
BiH Council of Ministers hold regular session in Sarajevo
According to Oslobodjenje, the Turkish Government has approved a donation of six million US dollars to BiH, which will be used for payment of natural gas imported yet in 1996. Anto Domazet, the BiH Treasury Minister, told journalists in Sarajevo on Thursday following a regular session of the BiH Council of Ministers, that the payment of this financial obligation was a pre-condition for the renewal of the natural gas import contract with the Russian partners. At the meeting, the Council of Ministers made a decision to establish a working group for fight against the corruption and organized crime. It also received the information on a meeting in Zagreb of the delegations of BiH and Croatia related to an inter-state dispute over the oil transport regime. According to BiH Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Minister Azra Hadziahmetovic, the two delegations exchanged arguments and explanations concerning the dispute.
BiH House of Representatives passed the Law on Civil Service with disputed amendments
Dnevni Avaz reports that, at the session last Tuesday, the deputies to the BiH House of Representatives adopted the Law on the Civil Service with disputed amendments in spite of an opposite recommendation made by the Senior High Representative, Matthias Sonn, in a letter he sent to the House on December 12 last year. The amendments concern the imposition of the parity in the head offices within the BiH institutions and a legal obligation that the ethnic structure of the employees is made on the basis of the 1991 census.
Federation
BiH Croats to form political block but without HDZ
According to Oslobodjenje, at an initiative of Miljenko Brkic, the President of the BiH Croat National Alliance (HNZ), the second meeting of the leaders of political parties with the Croat prefix will soon be held in Sarajevo. The participants at the meeting are expected to reach an agreement on the formation of a Croat political block for the joint participation in the next elections planned to be held in October this year. “It is most likely that two blocks of the political parties with the Croat prefix will actually be established. The first one will be headed by the HDZ BiH and will also include other BiH Croat political parties gathered around the Croat National Assembly (HNS), as the NHI, the People’s Party Working for Prosperity (Radom za Boljitak), HSS, HNZ and eventually the HKDU will be on the other side,” Brkic told the newspaper.
Tokic and Halilovic in conflict
Following SDP BiH Main Board Vice-president Sejfudin Tokic’s Wednesday’s statement with Dnevni Avaz, in which he accused the Party for BiH of obstructing the replacement of certain officials appointed during the mandate of the former authorities, the President of the Party for BiH Presidency, Safet Halilovic, reacted saying that the party’s leadership would hold an early session to discuss the issue. He also announced that the Party would request its partner, which is the SDP BiH, to express its official opinion regarding the Tokic’s claims.
BiH Federation Government holds session in Mostar
According to Dnevni Avaz, at a session held in Mostar on Thursday, the BiH Federation Government concluded it would at one of its next session make a decision on the ways of privatization of the strategic companies such as the BiH Telecom, Mostar Telecom, Holiday Inn Hotel and others in which the state was a major owner. The Government also appointed a number of directors, deputy directors and steering board members in the Federation institutions including the Federation Statistics Bureau and Fena News Agency.
BiH Federation Pension-Invalid Fund heads send letter to OHR
Dnevni Avaz reports that Bozo Misura and Svjetlana Hasanagic, the Heads of the BiH Federation Pension-Invalid Fund, sent a lettr to the OHR claiming that the members of the Fund’s Steering Board, Rudo Vidovic, Vinko Zoric, Jozo Ursa and Zvonko Markovic were obstructing the adoption of a decision on the establishment of Fund’s administrative services in the cantons.
BiH Federation leaders meet with the IJC Director
According to Dnevni Avaz, the BiH Federation President, Safet Halilovic, and his Deputy Karlo Filipovic met in Sarajevo on Thursday with the Director of the Independent Judicial Commission, Rakel Surlien, to discuss the reform of the judicial system as well as the appointment of the BiH Federation Constitutional Court judges. Surlien emphasized the significance of these appointments saying that they should be made in accordance to the BiH Constitutional Court’s ruling on the constituency of all peoples in the entire country’s territory.
Dnevni List: Croat Christian Democrats on celebration of official Day of City of Mostar – Bosniaks celebrate throwing of friars into the Neretva River
(translation courtesy of Mostar Interpreters Pool)
Dnevni List: Ivo Komsic, the Speaker of Federation Parliament’s House of Peoples confirms Izetbegovic offered west Herzegovina to Tudjman
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Speaker of the Federation Parliament’s House of Peoples, Ivo Komsic, confirmed that the former President of the BiH Presidency and the SDA’s honourable President, Alija Izetbegovic, offered west Herzegovina to the then Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, reports HINA, reads Dnevni List. “Go and see him and tell him this, he can take west Herzegovina so he could leave us alone”, said Komsic in an interview for the Croatian Radio adding that Izetbegovic and Tudjman did not negotiate directly and that he was the mediator in the talks. About the Izetbegovic’s offer itself, Komisic said that it was made at talks held in Bonn in 1993. “Just prior to Christmas of 1993, in the midst of the HVO-BiH Army conflict, Germany wanted to help to stop the war, so it organised talks in Bonn, inviting Croatian and BiH delegations that were headed by Franjo Tudjman and Alija Izetbegovic”, explains Komsic. Komsic also claims that the only direct witness to the event was, apart from him, the Croatian Ambassador to Turkey, Hidajet Biscevic. On December 23 Izetbegovic called him to his room, says Komsic, and said that he should offer Tudjman “to unify the country and make Bosnia a state which would be governed by both Croats and Bosniaks on parity basis in its internationally recognised borders. On top of that I offer that sort of BiH to Tudjman to form a confederation with Croatia”, Komsic recalls Izetbegovic’s words. According to Komsic, Tudjman declined the offer saying that “the offer is silly, Izetbegovic is offering something that he has not, he controls 10, perhaps 12% of the territory”. When he conveyed Tudjman’s message to Izetbegovic, Izetbegovic told Komsic to offer Tudjman west Herzegovina. Komsic himself refused to convey the offer, but Komsic claims that somebody else did it for Izetbegovic, reads Dnevni List.
Dnevni List: BiH Association of Independent Trade Unions leaders visited Aluminij
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Edhem Biber, the President of this Union, visited Aluminij yesterday and met with Vlado Ivankovic, the President of Aluminij Independent Trade Union. Edhem Biber stated that he had an opportunity to meet with the representatives of the Authority in this Canton, and stressed that the Authority has not come to life and it does not act in a unified manner. He said that he hopes that the International Community will help in the resolving of these issues. He stressed: ‘It is a high time to start taking care about people who are at verge of poverty.’
Vlado Ivankovic stated that apart from the Government, the Unions were also disunited primarily down the line of ethnicity. He added: ‘We should get united first and then we should demand from the Authority to do its part of work’, reads Dnevni List.
Republika Srpska
PDP Vice president says the 1991 Census cannot be taken as a basis for distribution of power
(Provided by OHR Banja Luka)
Glas Srpski quotes PDP vice president, Zoran Djeric, as saying that all Serb parties agree on three things – that the 1991 Census cannot be taken as a basis for distribution of power, that house of peoples should not be introduced in the RS National Assembly, and that the insistence on Bosnain language is a first step towards the “unitarization” of the entire country. As to the 1991 Census, Djeric said that only elections can be taken as basis for distribution of power. As to the introduction of house of peoples in the RS NA, Djeric said that the RS does not need the house of peoples since the RS NA Constitutional Commission is a sufficient political framework which can satisfy the needs of all peoples and citizens of the RS. Commenting on the issue of Bosnian language, Djeric said that the insistence on Bosnian language is a first step towards the “unitarization” of the entire country, and is also seen as an attempt of one nation to dominate over the other two BiH nations.
RS Public Prosecutor says RS ready to try war crimes
(Provided by OHR Banja Luka)
Nezavisne Novine quotes RS Public Prosecutor, Vojislav Dimitrijevic, as saying that at today’s meeting with the ICTY Chief Prosecutor he will insist that the ICTY approves the RS courts to try some war crime cases. “The RS Public Prosecutor’s Office expects that the ICTY Prosecutor’s Office reviews the evidence materials and indictments that the RS submitted with regards to war crimes committed against Serbs much faster”, said Dimitrijevic.
Glas Srpski: Sulejman Tihic was born as a Serb
(Provided by OHR Banja Luka)
Glas Srpski published on its front page the article, which states that president of the Party of Democratic Action and Deputy RS NA Speaker Sulejman Tihic either has a doppelganger or was born as a Serb. The article quotes the birth records from the Bosanski/Srpski Samac in which says that Sulejman Tihic as well as his parents, Mersad and Hatidza, declared themselves as Serbs. The article also includes a copy of Sulejman Tihic’s birth certificate, which states that both Tihic’s parents declared themselves as Serbs.
International Community
Petritsch requested BiH political leaders to urgently find concrete solutions for the implementation of the constitutional reforms
On Wednesday at the OHR in Sarajevo, the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, met with leaders of the political parties of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to hear of the progress they have made with regard to the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s decision on the constituency of peoples. The High Representative welcomed the initial progress made so far, especially with regard to the parties finally entering into a dialogue and heard various approaches and proposals for Constitutional reform in BiH. Real, substantial and far-reaching solutions are now needed. He urged the party leaders to continue their efforts and present a solution as soon as possible. (Oslobodjenje and Dnevni List carried the OHR Press Release)
SDA loses optimism after the meeting of the leading RS and Federation political parties with the High Representative
(Provided by OHR Banja Luka)
Glas Srpski reports that at the meeting of the leading RS and Federation politicians with the High Representative, which took place in Sarajevo on Wednesday, the High Representative for BiH neither sided with any of the parties involved in negotiations nor supported anyone’s proposal of the constitutional amendments. The paper quotes RS Prime Minister, Mladen Ivanic, as saying that the High Representative was absolutely neutral. “He did not say anything which could make any of the parties involved in the talks think that he supports anyone’s proposal of the constitutional changes. He also refrained from making any assessment”, Ivanic told Glas srpski. He said that the High Representative wanted to get the first-hand information about the course of the talks and he will inform the Peace Implementation Council about it on its session scheduled for February 28th. “Political parties from the Federation are not showing readiness for reaching an agreement. My impression is that they want to create a situation in which any sort of agreement would seem impossible”, said Ivanic. The paper quotes RS National Assembly Speaker, Dragan Kalinic, as saying that they presented to Petritsch the different positions and views on the constitutional amendments. “I think that some specific solutions will remain different, because the RS and the BiH Federation as well as their constitutions have different genesis”, said Kalinic and added that he expects that constitutional changes will not be imposed. Leader of the Party of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Milorad Dodik told press that the intention of the High Representative was to encourage leaders of the main political parties to reach an agreement. “My view is that vital national interests can be defined in 10 principles and that the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly should discuss the mechanisms of their protection. This means that there is no need for introduction of the house of peoples in the RS NA nor for the commission for constitutional issues”, said Dodik. As to the distribution of power in accordance with the 1991 Census, Dodik said that he left a possibility that the 1991 Census be taken as a basis for distribution of power. He also said that a solution for distribution of power should be a combination of election results and ethnic structure of the electorate. President of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Sulejman Tihic said he was less optimistic than before and that the talks had not reached a serious phase. “The High Representative did not explain his views but pointed out an importance and a need that local politicians reach an agreement on constitutional changes in accordance with the BiH Constitutional Court ruling on constituent status of all three peoples in BiH”, said Tihic.
A trial of the century continues in The Hague
Slobodan Milosevic accused the West of plotting his downfall and the destruction of Yugoslavia in a bid for global domination, in a hard-hitting counterblast to war crimes charges at the U.N. tribunal on Thursday, Reuters reported. Seven months after he was deported from Belgrade, the former Yugoslav president took the offensive on the third day of his trial against prosecutors who had accused him of masterminding atrocities in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s. The one-time Serbian strongman denounced his trial as political and lambasted NATO for what he said was a criminal bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999 in response to a Serb crackdown in Kosovo against its majority ethnic Albanians. “It was obviously the goal and objective to terrorize and break down the whole Yugoslav nation. The goal in practical terms was the nation as a whole,” an unrepentant Milosevic, who is conducting his own defense, told the court.
Vecernji List: OHR requests proper court’s registration of the HDZ BiH
Written by Ilko Barbaric (Provided by OHR Mostar)
Yesterday about 12 o’clock, a written order from OHR Mostar arrived to the Office of Castimir Mandaric, a President of the Cantonal Court in Mostar, requesting a deleting of HDZ BiH and Ante Jelavic, an unrecognized HDZ President, as an authorized person for representing of HDZ, from the court’s registry. According to a reliable Vecernji List source, the explanation says that HDZ BiH has been illegally registered at the Cantonal Court in Mostar.
In the order in which they instructed him to delete HDZ from the court’s registry, they also clearly threatened President Mandaric saying that in this case his work has been under scrutiny of a person authorized by Wolfgang Petritsch. It is well known that some time ago, at the request of HDZ BiH, the Cantonal Court in Mostar changed the seat of the party from Sarajevo to Mostar. The decision says that only the seat of the party has been changed while the other part of the decision of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, where the party was registered, has remained the same, simply, because there was no other demands. It is important to say that Mirsad Resulovic, the Cantonal Prosecutor, who received this decision ex officio and thus this decision automatically became valid, has not lodged an appeal to this decision. Castimir Mandaric, the President of the Cantonal Court, has been given three days to comply with the order. It is interesting that this decision came at the moment when the results of the public opinion polls show a growth of the HDZ popularity and only two days after the meeting of all Croat parties from BiH took place in Sarajevo, during which they discussed a strategy of a future Croat politics in BiH..
Petritsch’s Office: We want that HDZ participates at the elections
Yesterday we tried to contact C. Mandaric, the President of the Cantonal Court , however, he refused to give any comments over phone.
Mario Brkic, an OHR Spokesperson, told us last night:’ We do not want to comment on the existence of the letter. One thing is clear, the HR wants that HDZ participates at the elections. This, on the other hand, requires that HDZ is properly registered and that the High Representative’s decisions are respected.’
HDZ responds to media speculations related to its court’s registration
Croat Radio Mostar on Friday reports that in response to the speculations regarding the HDZ registration, HDZ BiH issued a press release. The press release says: “Regarding the latest speculations, that appeared in media regarding the HDZ BiH registration, we would like to stress that the adoption of a final version of the Statute is the issue that the Central HDZ Board will be dealing with, in accordance with the conclusion of the 7th HDZ Convention. The session of the Central HDZ Board will take place at the beginning of March, at the latest. After this session, a legally regulated procedure regarding the party’s re-registration, that is, regarding the submission of HDZ BiH basic documents to the competent Court in Mostar, will be carried out.”
Croatian foreign minister says Croatia is drafting BiH Constitution
(Provided by OHR Banja Luka)
Glas Srpski reports that Croatian Foreign Minister, Tonino Picula said that governments of BiH and Croatia are jointly preparing the draft constitutional amendments in BiH. Addressing the Foreign Policy Committee of the Croatian Parliament, Picula said that the formula for this plan is “consensus of BiH Croats and partnership relations between the Croatian Government and the BiH Council of Ministers”. BiH Minister for European Integration, Dragan Mikerevic said he was surprised with the statement of the Croatian foreign minister. “Serb representatives in the BiH Parliament told me they had no clue that this issue had been officially discussed”, said Mikerevic. BiH Minister for Civil Affairs and Communications, Svetozar Mihajlovic said he did not know that the BiH CoM and the Croatian Government had been working together on the draft constitutional amendments. “This is the first time I hear about it, and if there is someone who should know that then it should be deputies of the BiH foreign minister, Milovan Blagojevic and Ivic Misic. They were in Zagreb recently and the explanation was that ‘they had to accelerate some things they have started before’”, said Mihajlovic.
ICTY spokeswoman says Carla Del Ponte is coming to pick Karadzic up
(Provided by OHR Banja Luka)
Nezavisne Novine quotes ICTY Spokeswoman, Florence Hartman, as saying that the ICTY Chief Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte is coming to Banja Luka today where she will meet with the representatives of the RS authorities. Hartman said that they will especially discuss problems that the ICTY is not satisfied with such as arrest of those who live in the RS. “Radovan Karadzic is, according to our information, amongst these people. We shall request that the RS authorities act in accordance with arrest warrants, because if we have arrest warrants and if persons indicted by the ICTY refuse to surrender, then the authorities have to arrest them and transfer them to The Hague”, said Hartman.
Serbian Justice Minister comments on the RS authorities’ request regarding extradition of ICTY indictees
(Provided by OHR Banja Luka)
Nezavisne Novine quotes Serbian Justice Minister, Vladan Batic, as saying that the RS Government’s request to the FRY Interior Ministry regarding the extradition of all RS citizens indicted by the ICTY is a sheer demagogy, because in this way the RS Government wants to disclaim the responsibility for the non-cooperation with the ICTY. Batic said that the RS authorities should take care of the ICTY indictees who live on the RS territory. We can discuss this request and it is up to the FRY Government to decide whether the request is rational or maybe the Government will decide to extradite ICTY indictees directly to The Hague”, said Batic. The advisor to FRY minister of internal affairs, Goran Vesic, assessed that the Serbian government “must act in accordance with the request of the RS government and with its international obligations”. “The RS government’s request is a slap in the face to both
the FRY president and all those who have persistently been trying all these months somehow to slow down or prevent cooperation with the Hague Tribunal” said Vesic, a high-ranking official of the Democratic Party (DS) led by Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.”This has been done because the SDS is in power in the RS. If the SDS and the RS Government understand the obligations they have towards the ICTY then it should be quite obvious that the FRY have the same obligations”, said Vesic.
Belgrade attempted to persuade Mladic to surrender?
(Provided by OHR Banja Luka)
The Belgrade authorities have attempted to persuade former commander of the Republika Srpska (RS) Army, Ratko Mladic, to surrender to the Hague Tribunal, but to no avail, news agencies reported on Thursday, citing “a high-ranking Serbian official who spoke on conditions of anonymity”, Tanjug reported. In a “private conversation”, as it is stated, the mentioned official told a number of reporters, including correspondents of the French AFP and the German DPA, that Belgrade had tried to persuade Mladic to surrender, but that “there is no chance for this, because he refuses to so”. Arrest, however, he said, is for now out of the question – for “internal political reasons”.
The mentioned official also said that, two or three weeks ago, Mladic had been informed that he “no longer enjoyed the protection” of the Yugoslav army. From this, new agencies draw the conclusion that Mladic is still in Serbia, as the Hague Tribunal’s chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte claims. According to the mentioned source, the Yugoslav authorities wish to try at home persons charged with war crime who are from the ranks of the army and security forces, and to extradite political leaders to the Hague Tribunal. The source added that this primarily referred to the closest allies of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic – Nikola Sainovic and Vlajko Stojiljkovic, whose extradition, he said, “could take place” by the end of the month. Radio B92 reported on Thursday that an unnamed source close to the Serbian government had absolutely denied the allegations that anyone from the Serbian authorities had contacted Ratko Mladic. “The entire story is senseless and seems like a ploy”, said the source of B92. The radio reported that it had received a similar reaction from sources close to the Yugoslav president’s cabinet as well.
Petritsch says still unsatisfied with what has been done since his arrival in BiH
In an interview with the New York-based Bosnian diaspora newspaper SabaH, the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, said that he was still unsatisfied with what had been done since his arrival in the country. “There are a great many people who are as yet unable to return to their homes, and there are so many without jobs; you do not need to use economic indicators to know how difficult the economic situation is. But not everything is gloomy – Bosnia and Herzegovina is slowly, but steadily progressing. In the last two years, more people returned to areas in which they are now a minority than in all the four years before, that is from 1996 to 1999. BiH now has governments that are trying to break with the past and push the country forward. BiH is scheduled to be admitted to the Council of Europe in a few months’ time. Currently, the leaders of the main parties from across BiH are discussing on their own initiative how to implement the historic Constitutional Court’s ruling on the constituent status of BiH’s peoples in both Entities. This may be the first time since Dayton that they are trying to resolve a crucial issue without mediation by the international community, which is really encouraging,” Petritsch said.
Editorials
Dnevni Avaz: Constitutional changes
Fadil Mandal wrote in the Dnevni Avaz Commentary of the Day that the work on the constitutional reforms should be completed by the beginning of April this year. According to Mandal, BiH is on a crossing. “With the constitutional reforms carried out in a proper way, the country will make a big step forward on the path towards the European Union. Otherwise it will remain on the end of civilization, left to its own,” Mandal concludes.
Dnevni List: What Mesic, Klein, Alija and Bakir know?
Written by Marko Markovic (Provided by OHR Mostar)
With regards to the reported turnabouts in the Leutar case, the Editor-in-Chief of the Dnevni List, Marko Markovic, says that the turnabout has come as a result of two things. The first one being the changed political climate towards the Croats with the latest reports showing that the HDZ is the most popular party in the Federation and the second, more important reason, being that there are no firm evidence that Cosic, Bajkusa, Como and the rest prepared and carried out the assassination. Markovic, who spoke to Ivan Andabak after he was released from the Rijeka prison, goes on to say that JP Klein misdirected the course of investigation in the Leutar case, referring to information he received from Andabak. Markovic also criticises President Mesic for making frivolous statements when Mesic put the suspects in the Leutar case at fault in advance. Marko Markovic also claims that the Dnevni List is in possession of evidence that show that Mesic inherited evidence on people who ordered the Leutar assassination from the late Franjo Tudjman. “The same evidence is at disposal of the leading Bosniak politician Alija Izetbegovic and his son Bakir, It is only the matter of days when they will present them – to the public and the judiciary. All of them that is, Klein, Mesic, Alija and Bakir Izetbegovic”, says Markovic, reads Dnevni List.
Slobodna Dalmacija: BiH Paradox – positions on constitutional changes have been clarified after the Sarajevo meeting
Written by: Petar Miloš (Provided by OHR Mostar)
After so much skirmishing, so many deceits and mutual accusations all Croat prefix parties have finally agreed about one vital issue.
It actually came to a paradox – the Croats, who were in favour of the third entity, which was the reason that the International Community stigmatized them, are now asking for a unitary and BiH of sovereign peoples in the its whole region organized by way cantons. However, not even the International Community, tired of the exotic Balkan games, is attracted to this idea. How can we talk about the return of the Croats to the Republic of Srpska at all if they have to serve the Army of the Republic of Srpska, learn the Serb history, sing somebody else’s songs and use exclusively somebody else’s script, plus have the status of a national minority reduced for the quantity of hatred accumulated against them during all these wars.
To make the paradox even bigger, the Croats are now the most fervent advocates of the Dayton. In its coming revision their goal is to snatch what belongs to them in the partition – their own entity. It is hard to believe that the International Community, after the unsuccessful insisting on the Dayton, will continue insisting on this project.
Its revision is to be foreseen from numerous moves of the International Community and its representatives. The only possibility left for the Croats now is to insist on the Dayton paragraph about the constituency of all peoples in the whole BiH territory with the reserve solution that implies the third entity.
Headlines
Oslobodjenje
Dnevni Avaz
Jutarnje Novine
Dnevni List
Vecernji List
Glas Srpski
Nezavisne Novine