- Zlatko Lagumdzija meets Paddy Ashdown: Ashdown to succeed Petritsch
- State commission for Refugees presents plan for return of refugees to both entities
- Human Rights Chamber rules in favor of eight disqualified judges
- OHR: Federation must implement the Chamber ruling on military apartments by June 7
- Krizanovic says he sees BiH cantonized and without Republika Srpska
- Alliance evades crisis, Halilovic’s post still vacant
- High Representative to file charges against Hercegovacka Banka criminal doers?
- Cantonal revenues in 2001 reduced by 180 million KMs when compared to 2000: Budget money leaking through legal loopholes
- HNZ to create a Croat party block before the October elections
- Mijo Anic, the Federation Defense Minister – Lagumdzija cannot remove me!
- Hundred thousands veterans to organize protest on March 1
- Hotel Ero gets annually a half million KM from OHR
- High Representative: I am not against the introduction of House of Peoples in the RS
- RS President: RS has been in our hears for ten years now although it was legally recognized only in 1995
- RS Premier says international community cannot be constitution-maker
- ICG: Serbs could survive without the Republika Srpska
- RS Premier says government to revert to original draft budget proposal
- President of Serb National Alliance stirs up the RS political scene – Words for dismissal
- Rangers are searching for Karadzic
- SDA comments on RS authorities – Guidelines from woods crucial
- Petritsch urges an investigation of recent threats to the Serbs in Federation
- Bosnian arrested in New Hampshire after threatening to the airport staff
- Sarajevo dailies
- Dnevni Avaz
: Supervisor on a Test- Dnevni List
: Why am I not on the list?- Vecernji List
: Either three entities or not a single one
BiH State-related Issue
Zlatko Lagumdzija meets Paddy Ashdown: Ashdown to succeed Petritsch
At a beginning of his first official visit to Great Britain, the chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Zlatko Lagumdzija, met with the influential leader of the country’s Liberals and the future High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, writes Oslobodjenje on its front page. The daily notes that Lagumdzija and Ashdown spent the entire day on Saturday discussing the situation in BiH, its relations with the neighboring countries as well as its international status. Quoting anonymous diplomatic sources, Oslobodjenje writes that one of the dominant topics was the future of the Dayton Peace Agreement, while Ashdown wanted to hear Lagumdzija’s view as to what should be the priorities of the new High Representative. The article also speculates that there has been a gentleman’s agreement between the two, and according to which Petritsch would leave his post a few months before the end of his mandate to leave room for his successor.
Federation media report that, during his stay in Britian, Lagumdzija will also meet British Defense Secretary Geoffrey Hoon and Secretary of State for International Development Clare Short, the Minister for Citizenship and Immigration Jeff Rooker and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Denis McShane.
State commission for Refugees presents plan for return of refugees to both entities
Federation Television reports that the State Commission for Refugees and Displaced Persons has adopted its future programme and financial plan which will be forwarded to the BiH Presidency for endorsement. “The return of refugees is proceeding under favourable circumstances, BiH Minister for Human Rights and Refugees Kresimir Zubak concluded on Friday, adding that the last year saw a steady return and that the security situation had improved. At the session attended by representatives of the relevant ministries in the two entities and the OHR, an agreement was reached on joint programs encouraging the return of Serbs to the Federation and the return of Bosniaks and Croats to the RS. The projects will be jointly drafted and financed. The commission’s target was the return of 50 per cent of displaced persons and refugees within the next six months.
Human Rights Chamber rules in favor of eight disqualified judges
Most Federation media report that the BiH Human Rights Chamber ruled on Friday that the six applicants in the selection procedure to fill vacancies on the Federation Supreme Court have been discriminated against. As a remedy, the Chamber ordered the Federation to include the six in the selection process without requiring them to submit new applications and to undergo the interview process again. For the Human Rights Chamber See the Press Release.
OHR: Federation must implement the Chamber ruling on military apartments by June 7
In a statement for Dnevni Avaz, OHR spokesman Oleg Milisic said that the Federation must implement the Decision of the Human Rights Chamber by which former officers of the JNA (Yugoslav National Army) could repossess their apartments. At a session held on Thursday, the Federation government noted that the Article 3a of the Law on the cessation of application of the Law on abandoned apartments (definition of a refugee) is not discriminatory and decided to ask the OHR to discuss this issue with entity representatives and address the possibility of review. “OHR is always ready to, in the spirit of partnership, talk with the Federation government. However, we believe that the Human Rights Chamber is an independent institution which is free to rule in accordance with its rules and procedures and no one should think that he could exert any influence on its work,” Milisic stressed.
Krizanovic says he sees BiH cantonized and without Republika Srpska
Jozo Krizanovic, the Chair of the BiH Presidency, was a guest in the political show TV Kompas on the HTV Mostar. On that occasion, Krizanovic said that if the constitutional reforms had been conducted back in 1996 or 1997, the situation in BiH would now be much better. Commenting on the events related to Ante Jelavic, Krizanovic said that the High Representative marked the Croat self-rule project as an anti-constitutional activity of the Croat representatives and this action of one part of the HDZ, in his words, was adventurous and thoughtless. He criticized the harangue that the HNS members launched against all Croats in the authority structures and said those were desperate moves, aimed at diverting attention to the Croat issue.
Krizanovic announced that he would pay a visit to Herzegovinian municipalities in the spring. According to his view of a modern BiH, The RS would gradually be abolished and the state would be cantonized.
Federation
Alliance evades crisis, Halilovic’s post still vacant
Media on Saturday carried somewhat confusing reports about the long-awaited meeting of the Alliance Coordination, during which representatives of the ruling coalition parties were to decide as to whether Sefer Halilovic, The Hague indicted Bosnian general, could re-assume the post of the Federation Minister of Refugees and Social Politics. Although Halilovic, who has recently been granted a pre-trial temporary release, is facing no legal obstacles to return to the post, most officials agree that his re-instatement would be too controversial and potentially offensive to Croats living in the Federation. Oslobodjenje reports that the meeting was successful with all 12 parties in the Alliance agreeing that the BPS (Bosnian Patriotic Party) should nominate a different candidate for the post. All other demands of this party, including several directorial and management posts in large companies in the Sarajevo Canton, were met, while the BPS decided to remain within the coalition block. Dnevni Avaz was less positive about the meeting. In an article titled “Indecisive Alliance”, the daily reports that the controversial Halilovic issue was, once again, pushed on a side, after Alliance party representatives asked Halilovic to resign himself from the post and assume the position of an advisor in the Federation government. Halilovic has time to think about this proposal until the upcoming Wednesday, when the Alliance coordination is to hold a new meeting. It is expected that, by then, all outstanding issues, including the new candidate for the post of the Minister of Refugees, should be settled.
High Representative to file charges against Hercegovacka Banka criminal doers?
Vecernji List, in its Sunday edition, reports, quoting anonymous sources close to the High Representative, that Wolfgang Petritsch will file charges against persons responsible for the crimes committed in Hercegovacka Banka in a few days time. It is speculated that those persons are bank’s shareholders, and well-known persons from the circles close to the HDZ. The daily links this allegation to the case against Ante Jelavic and others before the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, which is soon to be resolved. The alleged charges and the case against HNS (Croat National Assembly) officials could be brought under the common denominator, which is that Hercegovacka Banka was the institution used for the illegal financing of Croat self-rule. The daily says the High Representative could “pull the cards from his sleeves” one of these days as the case before the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo comes to an end. (front-page story) Zagreb’s Jutarnji List carries a similar story.
Cantonal revenues in 2001 reduced by 180 million KMs when compared to 2000: Budget money leaking through legal loopholes
Vecernji List reports that in the year 2001 the Cantons in the Federation of BiH were “short” some 180 million KMs when compared to 2000, especially the Croat Cantons which suffered negative consequences during events surrounding the Hercegovacka Banka. The Federation Tax Administration claim that it was not taxpayers that should be put at fault but the wrong legislation which regulates this sensitive area. There are many legal loopholes that enable tax evasions, money laundry etc. Cantonal Governments had on several occasions accused the Federation Government of reducing their revenues through decreasing of tax rates whilst Nikola Grabovac, the Federation Minister of Finances, said that Cantons have enough space to be more efficient and dynamic when it comes to collection of revenues. Some put the Tax Administrations at fault but they would say that are getting ever-so-strict and submitting more criminal charges and blocking accounts of taxpayers. Tax inspectors swear that they have done their bit but it does not reflect on the collection of taxes (…) The article is concluded with a thought that the salvation, in form of the VAT, would come in 2003 but there is still a long way to go until that moment arrives.
HNZ to create a Croat party block before the October elections
Milenko Brkic, the President of the Croat National Community (HNZ) stated at a press conference in Mostar on Friday that his party would be advocating the creation of a Croat democratic block of parties for the October elections. He said the Croat political parties need to reach a consensus on the issue of constitutional reforms. He is of the opinion that the Constitutional Commission cannot be a proper substitute to the House of Peoples, reported Slobodna Dalmacija on Saturday and Oslobodjenje on Sunday.
Vecernji List (Saturday) quotes Brkic as saying that the HNZ will not join either HDZ-led or SDP-led block of parties and go for a third block. Brkic is quoted as saying that the process of constitutional reforms will not be completed in the course of this year “since the High Representative made a mistake.” “Instead of forming a single constitutional commission at the BiH level, he has formed two and thus postponed the resolving of the issue,” said Brkic.
Mijo Anic, the Federation Defense Minister – Lagumdzija cannot remove me!
As for the recent rumors about the SDP wishing to remove Mijo Anic from the position of Federation Defense Minister and replace him with the SDP Vice President Ivo Komsic or even General Dragan Curcic, Minister Anic told Dnevni List that, s far as he knows, it has not been discussed within the SDP. Anic says individuals would like that to happen, but generally and as far as he knows, there have been no similar combinations. “I think it is a fruit of someone’s imagination rather than a realistic possibility,” he says.
In answer to the question about possible reasons for his replacement, Anic says those who want to replace him have their reasons. He does not think their reasons are justified, but believes he is in the way of some individuals. Anic says there are people who are working systematically to have him replaced, while others are forced to work in that direction either because they were so ordered or because they want to win their electorate.
To the interviewer’s remark that the President of the Liberal Party, Rasim Kadic has been slandering the New Croat Initiative (NHI), ascribing it a turn to the nationalist policy, Anic says Kadic has gone over the limit with his statements. If he is a serious politician, all the issues that exist (if they exist) should be resolved within the Alliance, instead of the media. “I think our party will request that he and his party leave the Alliance,” says Anic.
Speaking of the Defense Law, Anic said it is a done deal as far as he is concerned. The Law has been handed to the Government and he is waiting for it to be included in the agenda of one of the following sessions. “There is the disputable Article 37, which some Bosniak politicians find unacceptable. I have proposed maintaining the option for the Federation Army to have two components. I find their position unacceptable,” says Anic.
In answer to the question as to whether there will be enough money in the budget for the persons who will be dismissed from the Federation Army, Anic said almost 50% of the funds required for demobilization this year has been secured. In his words, there will be no demobilization unless they come up with the rest of the funds required.
Speaking of his visit to Israel, which caused protests from the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Zlatko Lagumdzija and Anic’s Deputy Ferid Buljubasic, Anic said it was a normal visit and there were no reasons against the visit. “I have never been anyone’s exponent nor do I want to be one. I am doing my job in the most regular and the most necessary way, to the benefit of the people in BiH. I have no mentors in my own party, let alone having a mentor in another party. Lagumdzija could never be my mentor. I hold responsibility for the Federation Defense Ministry and for what I am doing,” said Anic.
Hundred thousands veterans to organize protest on March 1
Oslobodjenje reports on its front page on Sunday that organizations of war veterans and their families have threatened to organize a mass protests on March 1 if their demands are not met. The veterans asked the Federation government to immediately revoke the working draft of the new Law on protection of war invalids and families of fallen soldiers and demanded that the present Minister for Veterans’ Issues, Suada Hadzovic, resigns from the post. The daily notes that some 100,000 veterans could gather on the streets on March 1 in a protest against the new law, which seeks to revise the original definition of a war veteran and a fallen soldier.
Hotel Ero gets annually a half million KM from OHR
Director of Ero Hotel, Zvonko Raguz, told Oslobodjenje that this hotel makes a good deal of profit from OHR offices in Mostar. “OHR pays between 30 and 40, 000 KM for using our space,” said Raguz, adding that the funds are “taking the regular route via a bank account”. He also said that the beneficiaries of this money are both employees of the Hotel as well as some 20 pensioners. The daily notes that the OHR has been using offices in this hotel for the past five years, but rumors have it that this international organization may soon move out soon. “OHR pays ERO regularly and in accordance with legal regulations. We do not wish to mention any details about the exact amount of the rent in accordance with our business discretion,” said OHR Mostar spokesperson, Avis Benes.
Republika Srpska
High Representative: I am not against the introduction of House of Peoples in the RS
The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, stressed on Friday that he is not against the introduction of House of Peoples in the RS. In an interview with Dnevni Avaz, which is quoted by nearly all media in the Federation and electronic ones in the RS, Petritsch said that this issue needs to be agreed upon by the people of BiH and its political leaders. “As far as I am concerned, it is most important to reach the best possible solution in the implementation of the Constitutional Court decision on the constituent status of all people in BiH,” said Petritsch. He explained that the Peace Implementation Council, all important countries and political factors would like to see a more significant engagement on the part of the local authority and a symmetric solution which would ensure the protection of constituent rights. “I expect that by the end of February and the beginning of March, the entity constitutions will complemented by amendments which will implement the Decision,” Petritsch said, adding that everything is prepared and the only thing needed at this time are right political decisions.
Commenting on the present debate about the constitutional changes in the RS, the High Representative stressed that all interested parties, not only Serbs, should take a free and open part in this public discussion. “That needs to be a multiethnic debate…” he said.
Asked about the attitude of the OHR with respect tot he recent celebrations of the so-called Day of Republic in the RS, Petritsch stressed that the RS exists since December 14, 1995. “Legally, the RS had not existed until then. What they celebrate now has never been recognized and the celebration of that day will not help, it will not contribute to the reconciliation and is not in the least constructive,” Petritsch said.
In the interviewee, he also commended the SDP for proposing its own changes to the RS Constitution and accepting his suggestion to reduce the bureaucratic machine in the country. (Full translation of the interview to follow)
RS President: RS has been in our hears for ten years now although it was legally recognized only in 1995
RS president Mirko Sarovic commented for the RS Television the stands of High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch on marking the 10th anniversary of RS, saying the RS Day of Republic is celebrated for already 10 years. He added that it is less important if something is legally recognized or not. “The fact is that the RS was internationally recognized in 1995, but RS lives in our harts for already 10 years,” Sarovic said
RS Premier says international community cannot be constitution-maker
RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic said that nobody from the international community has the mandate to be a constitution-maker in the RS, the BiH Federation and Bosnia-Hercegovina. “If anyone in the international community wants to decide on constitutional changes, then they must take full responsibility for it, including the consequences which will stem from it, the economy and tackling of social issues,” Ivanic told the holidays issue of Glas srpski. He added that adequate constitutional solutions can only be reached through dialogue in which everyone involved agrees to compromise. “Therefore, I am convinced that identical, symmetrical solutions are impossible both in the RS and the Federation,” Ivanic said.
ICG: Serbs could survive without the Republika Srpska
Commenting on the recent statements by the RS leadership that Serbs could not survive without this entity, political analyst with the ICG, Michael Doyle, said that the RS is not perfect for BiH, but it will have to survive because Serb politicians do not want to see a different framework of the country. He stressed that, if the RS wants to survive, it has to radically transform its attitude and ensure rights to all citizens of the RS and BiH. “RS must be a part of the RS and the statement of the president Sarovic simply makes no sense, for Serbs also live in the Federation and they can live without the RS,” said Doyle. “I think that is a mere dramatization of the situation and it makes no sense.”
RS Premier says government to revert to original draft budget proposal
RS Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic said that the veto which the Bosniak members of the RS Constitutional Commission had imposed on the draft budget of the RS for this year is a political veto, behind which stand members of the Party of Democratic Action [SDA] and the Party for BiH. “They want to show that they protect the Bosniaks in the RS, but an opposite effect is produced. They do not consider it as an investment in return of refugees what the RS government had invested in the return of Serbs to the Federation,” Ivanic said in an interview with Glas srpski. Since a mutually acceptable solution was not found with regard to the budget, the government has decided to revert to the original draft budget and propose a total of 10.6m convertible marks for refugee return, which would secure 4.6m for the return of Serbs to the Federation and the rest of it would be for the return of Bosniaks and Croats to the RS. “We shall not abandon this proposal and it is now down to the High Representative to determine whether it endangers Bosniaks’ vital interests,” Ivanic said.
President of Serb National Alliance stirs up the RS political scene – Words for dismissal
Weekend edition of Glas Srpski quotes president of SNS (Serb National Alliance) Branislav Lolic, as saying that the statement made by the SNS vice-president, Svetozar Mihajlovic came as a surprise to him.(Mihajlovic said recentlythat “Constitutional changes will follow very soon, which will change the internal structure of BiH and will lead to further disempowerment of the entities in BiH. We should also be disabused of a nation that an entity can become a state”.) The paper also quotes the RS National Assembly Speaker, Dragan Kalinic, as saying that the Mihajlovic’s statement, that is that the implementation of the BiH Constitutional Court ruling on constituent status of all three peoples in BiH will lead to further disempowerment of entities is nothing but a lie. “If the constitutional changes are carried out in a reasonable manner, then the RS will become stronger and make sure that BiH joins Europe easily. SDS will vote for a modern BiH, but the SDS will not support a unitary BiH. If Mihajlovic really said this, he should be dismissed. He was not appointed to the post of BiH minister of civil affairs and communication to work as a spokesman for ICG, but to represent the RS in the BiH Council of Ministers”, said Kalinic.
Rangers are searching for Karadzic
Today’s edition of Nezavisne Novine learns from sources close to the SFOR and the International Community that the search for Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic is in an advanced stage. The same source tells the paper that it is a public secret that Ratko Mladic barricaded himself in his Belgrade apartment. “The arrest and extradition of Mladic is very certain, while things are getting more complicated with Radovan Karadzic. After almost two-month long surveillance, the reconnaissance squad has been replaced with the US rangers”, says the source. The paper reports that the US rangers have been directed to three locations: border between Serbia, Monte Negro and BiH, the mountain of Zelengora and the Romanija mountain region. Around 300 rangers have been deployed on these three locations and the arrest of Karadzic is their only task. Before the rangers were deployed the US had agreed with Montengrin President Milo Djukanovic that Montengrin troops do not allow Karadzic to enter Monte Negro.
SDA comments on RS authorities – Guidelines from woods crucial
Weekend edition of Nezavisne Novine quotes Deputy SDA President, Adnan Terzic, as saying that the Serb Orthodox Church should and must ensure that the Serb people in BiH build its future through BiH institutions and not by taking advice from those who live in the woods. “BiH has a big problem and that is that the representatives of the Serb people in institutions of power do not have right people, the people who have power, while unfortunately, those who have power in the RS are the people who still live in the woods”, said Terzic and refused to name those he is referring to. He assessed that the move of Serb Orthodox Metropolitan Nikolaj to forbid the Federation TV to broadcast the Christmas ceremony is a petty-politics.
International Community
Petritsch urges an investigation of recent threats to the Serbs in Federation
The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, met on Friday in Sarajevo with Mirko Pejanovic, President of the Serb Civic Council (SCC). The discussion focused on the implementation of the BiH Constitutional Court’s decision on the constituency of BiH’s peoples, return, and the recent threats against members of the SCC and their families. Petritsch expressed his full support and solidarity, on behalf of the whole International Community, to Professor Pejanovic and the SCC, following the threats received by members of the Serb community in the Federation in recent days. The High Representative called for a full investigation by the authorities stating that “this kind of extremism has no place in a democratic, multi-ethnic society ruled by law”. (Oslobodjenje carries the full press release on page 6, Dnevni Avaz on page 2, Slobodna Dalmacija carries excerpts)
Bosnian arrested in New Hampshire after threatening to the airport staff
Zemir Halilovic, a 34 year-old Bosnian man residing in Jacksonville, Florida was arrested at Manchester Airport, New Hampshire, on grounds of his threat that he was carrying Osama bin Laden’s bombs. Before boarding a plane bound for Philadelphia, he stated that he was carrying bin Laden’s bombs – reported agencies. Halilovic, who moved from Bosnia to the USA in 2000, later said he was joking. Federation TV carried this item as the fieriest headline in their prime time news on Saturday.
Editorials
Saturday’s and Sunday’s issues of Oslobodjenje carry editorials on the Halilovic affair and the possibility of the BPS (Bosnian Patriotic Party) leaving the coalition block. In a column titled “General’s own-goal”, Gojko Beric notes that the Alliance has in the recent weeks demonstrated all its indecisiveness on this issue and acted unanimously only after it received a public encouragement from the International Community. Beric writes that Sefer Halilovic has done everything in the past four weeks to leave the impression of someone who is not at all concerned about this matter, despite the fact that it is precisely him who created this dramatic havoc. “Had he had more brains or a better consultant … Halilovic would resolve his own case immediately after his return from The Hague. That would secure additional popularity for him and win extra points in The Hague,” writes Beric, adding that, instead, the indicted general chose the other way causing internal dispute in the Alliance.
In the same issue, Mirko Sagolj discusses the announced reduction in bureaucratic machinery and structure in BiH. He argues that the elimination of the posts of entity presidents would probably be the first step in the process of elimination of entities. “It is a good thing that the highest representatives of the International Community finally realized that BIH, the way it was tailored in Dayton, cannot survive,” notes Sagolj. He stresses that the recent moves of the Alliance in the sphere of reform are quite encouraging, however the increasingly stronger disputes within the coalition are that much discouraging.
In Sunday’s issue of Oslobodjenje, Emir Habul also dwells on Halilovic’s case, stressing that this issue together with the megalomaniac desire to grab as many managerial posts in large companies as possible, came in a truly bad time for the Alliance.
Dnevni Avaz: Supervisor on a Test
By Fadil Mandal
Henry Clark, supervisor of the Brcko District, is on a great test after the announcement of celebration of the RS Day of Republic which is to be organized in this city on the Sava river. Only his decisive reaction can prevent all negative consequences of political decisions and intention of authorities from the smaller BiH entity.
By the Arbitration Decision, Brcko was torn away from the embrace of the Serb nationalists and organized as a state District. It has its own legislative, executive and judicial authority, while the entities have lost all powers on this territory. The government of Mladen Ivanic would now like to enter Brcko on a side door. With intention to mark the tenth anniversary of the RS, they are trying to show that symbolically that town is a part of the gain acquired in the fight for the separate Serb state in BiH.
If this sort of precedent is allowed, all positive things made during the mandate of the Supervisor Clarke would be endangered. For, if the intention is to create a nucleus of a successful multiethnic culture in Brcko as an example for the rest of the state, then there is no room for the celebration of the project which reminds Brcko Bosniaks and Croats on the genocide and crimes committed during the aggression in this town.
That wound cannot be opened. There is no compromise on this issue. In particular because this is a state district and because there is a legal basis in the expected decision of the Supervisor Clark to ban the celebration which affects the foundation of the Arbitration Decision for Brcko.
Dnevni List: Petritsch’s coup de grace – Turning Croats into national minority in BiH
By Zoran Bosnjak
The High Representative in BiH, unlike other rulers, representatives, kings and emperors, does not have the need to test his future decisions by weighing their possible repercussions in the public. He simply takes a decision, forms a body to implement it and says, just in case, that the decision become effective immediately and that no one has the right to appeal. Although the smallest in number, still a constituent, but not sovereign people, Croats in BiH are somehow used to expecting only the worst from the OHR. Croat self-rule should have been a warning to the High Representative and all officials of the international community that Croats, as a people, reached the very bottom in terms of collective, national and individual rights, says Dnevni List.
The daily says that the OHR, with their document related to the changes of the RS Constitution, has shown that BiH is a definitely divided country. One entity is Serb and the other one will be purely Muslim in the near future.
A long time ago, former British Ambassador Graham Hand clearly told Cardinal Puljic: “It is about time for Croats in BiH to either assimilate or disappear completely.” His sincerity, says Dnevni List, has been repeated and elaborated in an even more drastic fashion in a number of analyses produced by all structures of the international community. One cannot just talk about not being familiar with the situation in the country and region, one cannot just talk about the “sins of the structures” of the international community, nor just kneel down and stare at the sky or take a bow. It is time for us to show that we are an indigenous people in this territory, that this is our country, that we must have rights equal to those of the other two peoples, because tomorrow it will be too late. If the Commission for the Protection of Vital National Interests in the RS is the same as the House of Peoples in the Federation of BiH, why is it not named the House of Peoples of the RS Assembly?
In conclusion, the article reads: “No passaran, High Representative! You will not be able to sell this story as ‘consistent implementation of the Constitutional Court Decision on the constituency of the three peoples throughout BiH.’ For as long as the existence of the RS, the SDA’s requests for re-establishment of Republic of BiH, and even more radical requests of the Party for BiH for a civic, unitary, i.e. Muslim BiH, are legal and legitimate, so are the requests of the HNS and so is the Croat people’s aspiration for Croat self-rule!”
Dnevni List: Why am I not on the list?
Dnevni List says their editorial office decided to publish the list of Federation Defense Ministry beneficiaries of preferential loans from Hercegovacka Banka for two reasons. The first reason is that they did not have the complete list of all 112 loan beneficiaries when they first wrote about the subject so that meanwhile they received complains that they were protecting the other persons on the list by not publishing their names. The second reason is to let the public know who are the persons that took very favorable loans at the time when the soldiers’ salaries were overdue and when most of them had to take long weekends and leave the army on Thursdays to come back on Tuesdays in order to save food.
The daily says the loans are not illegal but are morally dubious . No one would have anything against anyone taking a loan to purchase an apartment or build a house, but how could generals, assistants and secretaries could be taking loans while the army did not even have enough money to provide food for soldiers?
Should one publish the lists which are now being spread “through oral tradition” in Mostar café bars or should one wait for Toby Robinson and Wolfgang Petritsch to publish them in some other newspaper, along with a comment that almost all of the Croat elite are declared criminals, asks Dnevni List.
The daily says one could ask if the then Defense Minister Miroslav Prce was using the loans to buy loyalty of his deputies, assistants, staff, senior officers, while building a potential political career. Another question is how many loan beneficiaries are HDZ members and whether they used the HDZ only as a screen for gaining wealth. How is it possible for the HDZ Youth President to be given a loan amounting to 100,000 Marks? All the persons on the list are very angry and bitter for being on the list, but they are not the only ones who are angry. There are others, more numerous of course, who, angry and resigned, ask: why am I not on the list?
The daily remarks that the list they have published (all 112 beneficiaries, along with the respective loan amounts and titles where available) was produced in the Office of the Provisional Administrator of Hercegovacka Banka, Toby Robinson, and that she handed it to the Defense Minister Mijo Anic. It is possible, says the daily, that there are persons on the list who had nothing to do with the disputable loans.
Dnevni List interviewed 7 ordinary persons in the streets of Mostar and all of them said the list should be published. One of those interviewed said he does not believe those persons will return the money. Another said in the countries with a longer democratic tradition it would be a striking news for weeks, and in BiH, people forget about it very soon or the case gets hushed up.
Vecernji List: Either three entities or not a single one
By Jozo Pavkovic
Discussions about the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s decision on the constituent status of the peoples reaches its final and decisive phase, reads Vecernji List. The HR, Wolfgang Petritsch, says that the procedure that regulates changes to Constitutions with regards to the aforementioned decision should be completed by March. But when you hear statements coming from the Republic of Srpska, it is going to be very difficult. Differences in stances about the essence of the implementation of the decision are that big that it would be unrealistic to expect that the decision would be implemented fully, not only in the near future. When the Bosniak part of the Alliance in the Federation of BiH finally agreed that the decision should be symmetrically implemented in both Entities, the Serb part of the Alliance in the RS deemed that request the return to 1991 and 1992. Mladen Ivanic, the RS PM, thinks that a solution can only be reached through talks between domestic politicians. Considering the fact that the Croat parties gathered around the HNS have already declared themselves to be in favour of harmonisation of the Constitutions of both Entities, so the rights of the all three peoples could be protected, it is evident that the differences in the stances about the procedure have a national prefix. It makes sense, because the implementation of the decision formally annuls results of the war and questions the Dayton division of BiH into two Entities. In case that the decision was implemented, there would be two Entities with equal constituent peoples and the same rights they enjoy in the State of BiH. In other words, there would be two Bosnia and Herzegovinas. Without national definitions of the Entities there are no reasons for existence of the Entities and with the full constituent status and equality of three peoples in the RS, the RS will no longer be Srpska, so it won’t exist, it will not exist as a constitutional category. An agreement about the issue among domestic politicians, even within the ruling Alliance for changes, is impossible. If its true, as Wolfgang Petritsch has been saying these days, that the majority of influential countries are in favour of the symmetric solution in both Entities, the international administration should rule in favour of that. Such a decision should determine true mechanisms (Houses of Peoples) for protection of rights of peoples like in every other multi-national state. The deadline for implementation of the decision has been broken long time ago and any other delay represents a continuation of the anti-constitutional situation in BiH, discrimination of parts of peoples or of an entire people (Croats do not have their entity). In other case one should ponder about three national entities or abolishment of the two existing ones. Because, only the equality in rights is righteous.
Headlines
Sarajevo:
Oslobodjenje: Paddy Ashdown to succeed Wolfgang Petritsch
Dnevni Avaz: War for the oil market
Jutarnje Novine: Manipulation in private and state health sector
Oslobodjenje (Sunday):100,000 veterans to protest on March 1
Dnevni Avaz (Sunday): Bosnian arrested in the US
Oslobodjenje (Saturday): Croatia preparing an oil monopoly in BiH
Dnevni Avaz (Saturday): Indecisive Alliance
Mostar
Dnevni List: Exclusive interview with Defense Minister Mijo Anic – Lagumdzija cannot remove me!
Banja Luka
Glas Srpski (weekend edition):
New problems for unemployed people in the RS – Health at their own expense;
For the first time in the Scheveningen – All Serbs at the holly ceremony;
Kalinic vs. Mihajlovic – Words for dismissal;
No report, no investigation;
Detention for Vasic again;
RS Bureau for cooperation with the ICTY – Seeking the answer about Alija;
Nezavisne Novine (weekend edition):
Meeting of the BiH State Commission for refugees and DPs – Entities jointly finance return + a big picture of a refugee washing his hands;
Nezavisne appendix:
Boro Bejlobrk, member of the SDP Executive Board – Who is threatening out there?
Milica Bisic, Head of the RS Public Revenue Administration – Those who refuse to pay tax are not Serbs;
BiH selection for “Eurosong” – easy tunes too difficult for Banja Luka
Aleksandra Harambasic, BiH beauty queen – I borrowed beauty from my grandmother;
Nezavisne Novine (Monday):
Action aimed at arrest of most wanted ICTY indictee has begun – Rangers are searching for Radovan Karadzic; (A big photo of Radovan Karadzic)