- BiH parliamentary delegation visits Kosovo
- Lagumdzija welcomes PIC Steering Board Communique
- BiH Constitutional Court ends its session in Banja Luka
- Two-day seminar of economists and managers ends in Neum
- Draft Laws on Dual Citizenship prepared
- Newly-appointed chefs of the BiH Federation intelligence agencies meet with BiH Presidency members
- Oslobodjenje comes out under difficult conditions, pressures and threats
- SDA Main Board holds inaugural session, SDA Political Council established
- An explosive device goes off in Zepce
- Coordination Board for Protection of Zepce Croats condemns the bomb incident
- Lagumdzija says that the Alliance may function even if only SDP remains in it
- BiH SDP Presidency supports appointment of Alibabic and Vukasic
- Dnevni List: Croat Christian Democrats react to the threats Slavo Kukic received from allegedly ‘non-existent’ students association
- Slobodna Dalmacija: Press release from the Governor of Herceg-Bosna Canton in reaction to the launch of the Federation Television
- Vecernji List: Dr. Simun Musa about the end of the project of the Croat textbooks for Primary and Secondary Schools in BiH
- RS Prosecution Office completes war crimes indictment against Izetbegovic
- RS Commission for Missing Persons still searching for thousands of missing persons
- Milorad Dodik and Nebojsa Radmanovic allied
- Politician criticises initiative to set up government of experts
- Radicals say RS ruled by private businessman
- Petritsch announces sanctions against SDS
- Sarovic says without SDS there is no authority in RS
- Petritsch visits Plehan and Maglaj, accuses RS of obstructing return of Croats
- Petritsch says Kalinic knows what he should do
- A Croatian parliamentary delegation arrives in BiH
- New US Ambassador to BiH hands his credentials
- OHR says role of the international community in BiH being changed
- Christian Schwartz-Schilling visits areas of return in the RS
- Dnevni List: International Community conducting a secret plan in BiH under the name “Roman Defense” to establish a lasting peace in the country
- Dnevni List: Chris Riley says no conspiracy theory exists
- Dnevni List: Chris Riley and Tihomir Begic in TV show ‘Kompas’ of Croat TV Mostar
- Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz
BiH State-related Issues
BiH parliamentary delegation visits Kosovo
According to Saturday’s Oslobodjenje, a BiH parliamentary delegation headed by Chairman of the BiH House of Peoples Sejfudin Tokic arrived in Pristina on Friday for a two-day official visit to Kosovo. Tokic said that, in the future, BiH would pay much more attention to problems of Bosniaks living in Kosovo, and that it would request improvement of their status in accordance to the international conventions. He called on Bosniaks in Kosovo to take part in the upcoming elections in the province, because they were increasing prospects for resolving a large number of problems.
Lagumdzija welcomes PIC Steering Board Communique
Saturday’s Oslobodjenje reported that Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers and BiH Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija welcomed the communique from the session of the Peace Implementation Council’s Steering Board held on October 30 in Brussels. “I am particularly glad to hear that the PIC Steering Board assessed as necessary a more active engagement of the High Representative and BiH authorities in the implementation of the BiH Constitutional Court’s decision on the equal constitutional status of all three peoples in the entire country’s territory. I also agree with the assessment that the process of the economic transition in BiH was not satisfactory. A more effective transition is an imperative not only for the local authorities but also for the international organizations having mandate to follow all segments of these reforms,” Lagumdzija said in a written statement distributed by the BiH Foreign Ministry. “In the spirit of the partnership relations, the BiH Council of Ministers will undertake all measures to implement the CIPS project, and together with entity Governments create conditions for the implementation of macro-economic reforms,” the statement read.
BiH Constitutional Court ends its session in Banja Luka
ONASA reports that the BiH Constitutional Court announced on Saturday that it will make a decision on the request of BiH Presidency’s member Zivko Radisic on the inter-entity boundary line (IEBL) in the Sarajevo’s settlements of Dobrinja I and IV at one of its next sessions. After the session on Friday and Saturday in Banja Luka, the BiH
Constitutional Court announced that it rejected the complaint of 37 delegates of the BiH Federation parliament and former Prime Minister Edhem Bicakcic for the re- examination of the decision of the High Representative to BiH on the dismissal of the general manager of the public company Elektroprivreda BiH. The BiH Constitutional Court also discussed the request of the former BiH Presidency’s member, Halid Genjac, for the re-examination of the constitutionality of Article 152 of the Republika Srpska law on the labor, and concluded that this law is in accordance with the BiH Constitution. Also was discussed the constitutionality of Article 54 of the law on amendments and addenda to the law on the labor of the BiH Federation, and a decision will be made at the next session. The BiH Constitutional Court discussed big number of complaints, which point out the violation of human rights and basic freedoms guaranteed by the BiH Constitution and by the European Convention on Human Rights.
Two-day seminar of economists and managers ends in Neum
ONASA reports that a two-day brainstorming meeting of the economists and business managers of BiH on the measures of the economic policy for the year of 2002 ended on Saturday in Neum. After the meeting, in which more than 70 representatives of the authorities and economy of BiH participated, President of the Business Forum “Perspektive” Jadranko Prlic said that none of the authority level in BiH has a proposal for the measures of the economy policy for the next year. “Nowadays, no one in BiH knows what growth rate of the GDP, inflation and employment rate will be next year,” Prlic said. One of the conclusions of the meeting was that the BiH economy did not this year achieve the radical changes of re-restructuring the ownership and that it did not dynamize the business activities. Participants estimated that it is possible to overcome the increased poverty and non-development by increasing the volume of work and profitability rate, as well as by opening the new working positions in the sectors of the production and services. The bigger engagement of the state, entity and cantonal institutions and authority bodies on the creation of the economic system appropriate for investors is expected in that process. Economists want in the year of 2002 “the rules of the game” and equalization of the conditions of production in BiH with the conditions in other countries. Republika Srpska Minister for Economic Relations with Abroad Fuad Turalic presented on Saturday the basic characteristics of the strategy of the economic development of the RS, which has been adopted by the RS Government. According to Turalic the foreign investments in the RS amount in the past three years to 34 million marks in cash and 186 million marks in goods, and 263 foreign investors invested in the RS this year. “We have made exceptions in some fields in order to stimulate foreign investors who have requested the liberalization from the payment of taxes and customs duties,” Turalic said. The conclusions from the two-day brainstorming meeting in Neum will be presented to the governments of BiH and both entities, in order that they be put in the measures of the economic development of BiH for the next year.
Draft Laws on Dual Citizenship prepared
Glas Srpski, on the cover page, writes that the BiH Parliamentary Assembly has already prepared Draft Laws on Dual citizenship. According to the daily, bilateral agreements with the states like FRY and Croatia should be reached to allow BiH citizens to get dual citizenship. These drafts do not specify conditions for gaining right to dual citizenship, which will be simplified as announced by the BiH Council of Ministers.
Federation
Newly-appointed chefs of the BiH Federation intelligence agencies meet with BiH Presidency members
Newly-appointed Directors of AID and SNS, Munir Alibabic and Ivan Vukasic, announced at their Friday’s meeting with the members of the BiH Presidency, Jozo Krizanovic and Beriz Belkic, they would personally as well as their services start immediate operative cooperation. Belkic told Saturday’s Oslobodjenje that Zeljko Siljeg, former SNS Director, also appeared at the meeting confirming he would without any problems hand over the office to Vukasic. According to ONASA news agency, BiH Federation President Karlo Filipovic and Vice-president Safet Halilovic will following political consultations at the state and entity levels form an expert coordination body to work on the re-organization and coordination of the activities of the intelligence services until the adoption of the law regulating this sector.
Oslobodjenje comes out under difficult conditions, pressures and threats
In a written address published on Saturday, the Management and the Collegium of the Sarajevo daily Oslobodjenje accused Dnevni Avaz management of a monopolistic behavior since the privatization of the Printing Firm OKO. “Since the day Avaz bought OKO, Oslobodjenje has been coming out under extremely difficult conditions. The newspaper has been printed under pressures, blackmails and threats,” the Oslobodjenje Management and Collegium said. They therefore wonder if there are in BiH those who are strong enough to oppose such the usage of media only in the certain lobbies’ interests. Saturday’s Dnevni Avaz published the Oslobodjenje Management and the Collegium’s address together with its denial. In the denial, the Avaz Management said that Oslobodjenje actually was being printed with the Avaz’s assistance. It added that, through unfounded accusations and publication of the fabricated facts, Oslobodjenje Management and Collegium were trying to hide their own weaknesses and enormous debts towards OKO. However, according to the Monday’s Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz, the Oslobodjenje Trade Union announced that the newspaper’s employees would go on general strike on November 7 if the management does not accept their demand for starting a dialogue on the position of journalists and other employees.
SDA Main Board holds inaugural session, SDA Political Council established
Saturday’s Oslobodjenje reports that the SDA Main Board held its inaugural session on Friday. Adem Boric was elected President of the Board as Amela Catic was elected his Deputy. The Board also elected 32-member SDA Political Council, a very influenced body chaired by the President of Honor Alija Izetbegovic, which is widely seen as the SDA shadow leadership. The members of the Council were selected according to Izetbegovic’s proposal. They include Halid genjac, who will be chairing the Council in the absence of Izetbegovic, Hasan cengic, Timur Numic, Osman Brka, Husein Zivalj, Midhat Haracic, Mustafa Mujezinovic and Dzemaludin Latic. Oslobodjenje considers interesting Hilmo Neimarlija, a more moderate SDA intellectual, and Edhem Bicakcic were not on the “list of selected.”
An explosive device goes off in Zepce
Sunday’s Oslobodjenje reports on its cover page that during the Saturday night an explosive device went off in the Zepce downtown nearby the house of Chef of the Zepce Police Administration Suad Dizdarevic. Chairman of the Zepce Interim Municipal Council Nedzad Hodzic said that the Coordination Board for the Protection of Zepce Croats was responsible for the incident.
Coordination Board for Protection of Zepce Croats condemns the bomb incident
According to Monday’s Oslobodjenje, the Coordination Board for the Protection of Zepce Croats condemned the Saturday night bomb incident in Zepce. The Board requested authorized municipal and cantonal bodies to undertake all necessary measures to bring the perpetrators before justice and prevent any further incidents. However, the Board considered as extremely incorrect and dangerous a statement made by Chairman of the Zepce Interim Municipal Council Nedzad Hodzic suggesting in advance who was the culprit for the incident.
Lagumdzija says that the Alliance may function even if only SDP remains in it
At the SDP-organized panel discussion, the members of the party and the party representatives in the legislative and executive authorities at the cantonal level discussed the current political situation in BiH and the Zenica-Doboj Canton. SDP President Zlatko Lagumdzija said that the state was in a difficult position but due to the failures of the former authorities. “There is not crisis in the governing Alliance for Changes,” Lagumdzija emphasized but added that if the Alliance should be made of SDP members only, it would be made in that way.
BiH SDP Presidency supports appointment of Alibabic and Vukasic
Sunday’s Oslobodjenje reports that the BiH SDP Presidency fully supported decisions of the BiH Presidency, as well as the work of the BiH Federation President, Vice-president and the Government aimed at restructure and unification of the intelligence services in the entity. The Presidency concluded that the law on the issue had to be adopted as soon as possible.
Dnevni List: Croat Christian Democrats react to the threats Slavo Kukic received from allegedly ‘non-existent’ students association ‘Dr. Franjo Tudjman’
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Croat Christian Democrats issued a press release on the occasion of “alleged threats of a non-existent students association ‘Dr. Franjo Tudjman to Slavo Kukic.”
They took the opportunity to express their dissatisfaction about the shutdown of the HRT signal and “plunder of transmitters by the FTV.”
According to Croat Christian Democrats, Slavo Kukic, whom they refer to as “aggressive Stalinist,” organized “an intellectual party by claiming that correspondence with a non-existent association means a political lynch of him for his intellectual views.” Kukic should remember, says the party, that having taken up the positions of the FTV Council Chair and the Chair of the HPT Mostar Steering Board, he abandoned “his intellectual space as a university professor.”
Christian Democrats say the whole “Kukic’s party” is under the control of the International Community and, to that end, quote Kevin Sullivan, an OHR Spokesperson, as saying that the threat to Kukic is a direct impact on the freedom of speech and other human rights and is aimed at intimidating Croats who are working constructively on the establishment of the FTV. According to this political party, “the OHR Spokesperson, senior officials of the international administration and their Croat servants have gone beyond all limits and must be aware that the institutional terrorism against Croats in the Federation will soon come to an end.”
Slobodna Dalmacija: Press release from the Governor of Herceg-Bosna Canton in reaction to the launch of the Federation Television
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
The Governor of Canton 10, Dragan Bagaric, issued a press release on the occasion of the commencement of the Federation Television (FTV) broadcasting and the shutdown of the HRT signal.
Governor Bagaric says he had to speak up “about the setup we have recently experienced.” He says the FTV only features the Bosniak language or “the Croatian language with Bosniak pronunciation.” Bagaric asks who is to blame for this and answers himself by saying it is not those who won over 90% of the votes, but those who took up the power without the support of their own people.
The press release further reads that they tried, they uttered warnings, declared boycotts and suffered sanctions as they believed those were the ways of diverting attention to the existing problems and of “softening the hearts of the power-wielders who discarded us for non-cooperative and chose to use the obedient and anational Croats for their goals.”
Bagaric says the FTV project will fall through because it has been created against the will of the people, reports Slobodna Dalmacija.
Vecernji List: Dr. Simun Musa about the end of the project of the Croat textbooks for Primary and Secondary Schools in BiH
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Simun Musa, the Editor-in Chief of ‘Skolska Naklada’ Mostar, which realized the project of publishing textbooks for the national group of subjects for Croat pupils/students in BiH, stated for Vecernji List that all of the important Croat writers from BiH, and all of whom used to be omitted in the Croatian textbooks, are present in the newly printed reading-books.
“There are also literary representatives of other peoples in BiH. (…) I will, also, say that the OHR demanded that we in BiH stop using textbooks from Croatia and Yugoslavia and the deadline was the beginning of 2002. This way we have met that request,” said Musa.
Since you used to be the Federation Deputy Minister for Education, and since you discussed these issues at different levels, could you tell us what the OHR thinks about this?
The High Representative and his aides are familiar with the constitutional regulations related to education and culture in BiH. The fact that some of them demand one-sided solutions is a consequence of the lack of information or a blockade, due to tendentious information coming from one side only. When these problems are approached objectively, universally and well-intentionally then there are no fears. That was the case with the conference that the OHR and UNESCO organized in Sarajevo on February 7 and 8, 2000, where the Serb, Bosniak and Croat representatives from the area of education were invited, and where an expert group from the University from Heidelberg arbitrated, and the main conclusion made was that the model of parallel curriculums and programs, the so-called Swiss model, is acceptable to all peoples in BiH. The national, lingual, cultural and even religious structure of BiH population calls for this model.”
Republika Srpska
RS Prosecution Office completes war crimes indictment against Izetbegovic
Weekend edition of Jutarnje Novine reported that the Republika Srpska Prosecution Office had completed an indictment against the Bosniak wartime leader, Alija Izetbegovic, for war crimes committed against Serbs during the war in BiH. According to the procedure defined by the entity law on cooperation with The Hague Tribunal, the indictment will be forwarded to the Tribunal early next week. The war crime charges against Izetbegovic have been amended and contain both written and video evidences. It was announced that more details of the charges would be revealed at a news conference next week, a statement issued by the public relations office of the RS government says. It adds that apart from representatives of the RS office for liaison with the Hague tribunal, the news conference would be addressed by Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic, Justice Minister Biljana Maric and Public Prosecutor Vojislav Dimitrijevic.
RS Commission for Missing Persons still searching for thousands of missing persons
Glas Srpski carries a statement of the President of the Republika Srpska Commission for Missing Persons, Nedeljko Mitrovic, in which he says: “The RS is still searching for 955 Serb soldiers and more then 5.000 civilians that disappeared during the past war.” Mitrovic adds that during the past 6 years, this commission found 19,987 bodies and 1,291 has been identified so far. Mitrovic also emphasized that 506 identified bodies were not registered in the Book of Missing Persons of the International Committee of Red Cross.
Milorad Dodik and Nebojsa Radmanovic allied
Nezavisne Novine reports that the agreement on merging of the Republika Srpska Party of Independent Social-Democrats (SNSD) and Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) was reached on Friday. During the first phase, both parties will continue its political engagement under the name: Alliance of Independent Social Democrats. This Union will have a Directorate chaired by Milorad Dodik and an Executive Board chaired by Nebojsa Radmanovic.
Politician criticises initiative to set up government of experts
A member of the main committee of the Democratic People’s Alliance (DNS), Zlatko Knezevic, on Friday said that the SNSD (Party of Independent Social Democrats, former Premier Milorad Dodik’s party) did not follow the constitutional procedure when it embarked on the initiative that the transitional government of experts should be formed in the Republika Srpska because it was necessary first to initiate a vote of no confidence to the current government… He emphasised that the RS parliament alone could decide on which kind of government befits the RS in the pre-election period. Knezevic also said that the RS Government and the parliamentary majority were not brave enough to start open and simple system reforms within the RS…
Radicals say RS ruled by private businessman
The chairman of the executive committee of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) in the RS, Mirko Blagojevic, said on Friday that Milan Jankovic alias Filip Cepter was “at the helm of the Republika Srpska” because “he donated a large amount of money to Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic’s election campaign, and in return asked that his aide, Milenko Vracar, be appointed finance minister”. “Jankovic is carrying out everything he has intended through Vracar, which is not beneficial to RS citizens,” Blagojevic told a news conference in Bijeljina, without giving any details. He went on to say that the SRS would forward an initiative for the RS National Assembly to hold a separate session on the effects of privatisation in the Serb Republic. He said that privatisation would not provide funds for creating new jobs, as there were no serious foreign investors because the “sale of companies was often fixed”. “We call on Prime Minister Ivanic to say what has been done so far about privatisation in the RS, including profits and how they were spent,” Blagojevic said.
International Community
Petritsch announces sanctions against SDS
In an interview with the AFP news agency, the High representative Wolfgang Petritsch, condemned the nationalistic positions of the SDS representatives in the parliaments and announced sanctions against the party (all Sarajevo dailies carried the interview). Petritsch added that Radovan Karadzic was still influencing the SDS policy. “The Serb Democratic Party has taken extremist positions, which are unacceptable both for the RS citizens and the international community. If it continues this way, it will soon come to the line after which it excludes itself by its own from the political life. A fact Karadzic is still not in The Hague shadows the Serb people in BiH and prevents it from achieving better living conditions,” Petritsch said. He added that the SDS was systematically opposing anything, which led towards the unification (re-integration) of the two Bosnian entities. According to Petritsch, SDS does not obstruct just state institutions building, but also the economic reforms planned to be carried out in the entire BiH. He assessed that SDS had caused social unrest in the RS.
Sarovic says without SDS there is no authority in RS
Republika Srpska President Mirko Sarovic told RS Radio (Monday’s Oslobodjenje carried the statement) that the SDS was a key factor in creating RS policy and that therefore one could not even imagine the establishment of any governing structure in the entity without this party. Sarovic added that he presumed High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch, other international organizations, as well as the political structures in the RS were fully aware of this fact. Sarovic concluded that he did not expect anything spectacular to happen at the Monday’s meeting of the RS leadership with Petritsch.
Petritsch visits Plehan and Maglaj, accuses RS of obstructing return of Croats
According to Monday’s Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz, High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch on Sunday visited the Plehan Monastery and the villages of Susnjari and Poljare in the Bosnian Posavina region. During the visit, Petritsch accused the Republika Srpska authorities of obstructing the return of Croats to the area. “The RS Government must accelerate the return process, because what has been done thus far is scandalous,” Petritsch said. In the course of the day, Petritsch and his wife Nora also visited Maglaj. The High Representative supported the process of return to the town. He met with Maglaj Mayor Mehmed Bradaric to discuss the situation in the municipality after moving of mujahedeen out from the village of Bocinja. Bradaric said that there were no political problems in the village, and that the process of return was going well.
Petritsch says Kalinic knows what he should do
According to Monday’s Oslobodjenje, High representative Wolfgang Petritsch said late on Sunday in Banja Luka that he was not worried by the work of the political parties in the Republika Srpska, but by a difficult social-economic situation in the entity. Asked to coment on the International Crisis Group (ICG) report on the RS, which blamed SDS for the poor political and economic situation in the RS, Petritsch said that he had already discussed the positions presented in the ICG report with the SDS leader and RS National Assembly Speaker Dragan Kalinic. “I think Kalinic knows what are the international community’s requirements,” Petritsch emphasized.
A Croatian parliamentary delegation arrives in BiH
A Croatian parliamentary delegation headed by Croatian Assembly Speaker Zlatko Tomcic arrived in Sarajevo ate on Sunday for official three-day visit to BiH. At the Sarajevo Airport, Tomcic told BiH Federation TV that the return of refugees and other Croatian and BiH obligations defined by the Dayton Agreement would be in the focus of all discussion with the BiH and international officials in Sarajevo. The delegation was welcomed by Chairman of the BiH House of Peoples Sejfudin Tokic. The Croatian delegation is scheduled to meet with the BiH Presidency members, BiH Council of Ministers’ representatives, top BiH Parliamentary Assembly officials, High representative Wolfgang Petritsch and Head of the UN Mission to BiH Jacques Klein.
New US Ambassador to BiH hands his credentials
Sarajevo dailies reported on Saturday that newly-appointed US Ambassador to BiH Clifford Bond had handed his credentials to the Chairman of the BiH Presidency Jozo Krizanovic, in Sarajevo on Friday. Bond also met with Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers Zlatko Lagumdzija and handed him the copies of the credentials. At his inaugural press conference, Bond said that the United States remained committed to promote stability in the region through a full implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement. He emphasized that his country would support BiH in its reforms and on its way towards the European-Atlantic integration.
OHR says role of the international community in BiH being changed
Head of the OHR Press Office Alexandra Stiglmayer told Monday’s Dnevni Avaz that a fact was the role of the international community in BiH was being changed. “The reason for this is the reduction of funds, and the OHR is currently searching for the solutions how to strengthen the international civil structures in BiH in an efficient way. In this regard, the High Representative will next month propose certain solutions to the Peace Implementation Council’s Steering Board,” Stiglmayer said. However, she added that a lack of funds would not reduce the role of the international community in strengthening the BiH State institutions. “OHR believes that the domestic institutions should finally take over their responsibilities,” Stiglmayer concluded.
Christian Schwartz-Schilling visits areas of return in the RS
“This year, we have a significant number of returnees to the Republika Srpska. The heads of the municipalities I have visited are attempting t resolve large number of problems through improvisations, since, unfortunately, they do not have any financial support of the RS Government,” International Mediator for the BiH federation and RS Christian Schwartz Schilling told journalists following his visits to the municipalities of Banja Luka, Tuzla, Modrica, Zvornik, Sokolac and Visegrad. “There is much more problems than progress,” Schilling said expressing his concern because the returnees were not sufficiently supported by municipalities in meeting their basic needs.
Dnevni List: International Community conducting a secret plan in BiH under the name “Roman Defense” to establish a lasting peace in the country
Written by Leo Plockinic; full translation (Provided by OHR Mostar)
Dnevni List claims to have learned from a source in the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo, who wanted to remain anonymous, that the OHR is planning to carry out a plan of establishing a lasting peace in BiH, after which BiH would not present a potential crisis point in Southeast Europe.
The plan named “Roman Defense” is not a conspiracy at all, but is a part of the regular analyses of the NATO departments that deal with theorizing and would play the key role in case any of the plans should receive a green light and begin to be realized. Those special departments in charge of producing theoretic plans, possibilities, analyses and hypotheses of further developments, have their theories worked out for all parts of the world. This is about postulations such as “what if…?” Realization of one of such plans for BiH seems to have been authorized.
The High Representative’s meeting with the PIC Steering Board at the level of Political Directors took place on 30 October this year, but not all of the subjects and conclusions discussed, have been made public. The media found out that a restructuring of all international organizations in BiH will inevitably follow as a result of the enormous amounts of money that the West allocated as assistance to our country, all of which has been spent without achieving the progress as planned.
Assimilation of two into one
A plan of activities regarding the restructuring of the international organizations was produced and presented, and that is, in fact, a synonym for withdrawal of most of those organizations and their staff.
One of the subjects discussed was the “Roman Defense” plan and its further implementation. According to Dnevni List’s source, the plan contains a point of “integrating or assimilating two of the peoples in BiH, Bosniaks and Croats, whereas the third, Serb people would remain intact in the environment that the entity itself created.” That would solve two problems. Croats would no longer be a national problem with their nationalistic demands for a third entity or perhaps even for a secession, which otherwise could cause a new crisis in the region, while, on the other hand, Muslims would become a Europeanized people without any special segregation or deviations from the “European standards” of modern states, except for the religious characteristic, but that would be alleviated by assimilating them with Croats. Still, the principal and final solution is in that both of the peoples would have the same national prefix and would identify with their common “Homeland.”
Most of the plan implemented already
After the BiH elections held in the fall of 2000, the International Community became aware of the fact that a possibility of establishing a lasting peace was being opened on the political scene in BiH, and all of the international organizations that are present in BiH could withdraw from BiH. The expensive engagement on keeping the peace in BiH has evidently become too expensive and proved not to be worth one’s while. Unfortunately, most of the plan named for an ancient strategy has been implemented thoroughly. The Alliance of the parties of the social democratic and leftist orientation are in power and are successful in passing and implementing their decisions; the national parties that do not suit the international organizations have been marginalized by means of manipulating the election rules and by taking advantage of the non-existence of an Election Law in BiH; the powers of cantons have been reduced and transferred to Sarajevo and the Federation Government; Croat media are subject to a strict control by the CRA, which was established by the OHR and is directly responsible to the OHR alone.
Strict control of media
A special accent has been placed on the systematic process of shutting down the Croat national(istic) media and on having Croats subordinated to a common media landscape that would be covered by the Sarajevo-based Federation media. The SFOR is conducting a part of this plan, being tasked with interrupting the signal emission of any Croat electronic media in BiH by physical destruction of transmitters, which, when necessary, is performed in coordination with the CRA, as was the case with the Erotel, or with the Hercegovacka Banka when the CRA handed to the SFOR a list of transmitters to be “shut down” if necessary, naturally following the instructions of the OHR, the coordinator of the “Roman Defense” plan.
The police are under a full control of the IPTF, which only issue authorizations to the politically correct police officers, and those who “destroy” the police work have been either dismissed or suspended. The Ministry of the Interior has been integrated, and the IPTF are no longer even paying attention to national disproportion. The Federation Army has been brought to the stage of being an almost united Army of the Federation of BiH without a Croat or Bosniak component, and recruits will be doing the army service in different parts of the Federation. Also, there have been attempts to bring into the process the RS Army, which is not included in the “Roman Defense” plan.
High education included
So far, there have been several, fortunately failed, attempts of merging the Mostar University with the University “Dzemal Bijedic,” which was aimed at leveling academic knowledge. The process is still underway, said Dnevni List source, and a deadline for its completion has been set as well. According to the source, Zagreb has played the key role in the implementation of the plan, as they did nothing to protect Croats in BiH from being de-constituted and further assimilated with Bosniaks.
Zagreb did Croats a disservice by doing nothing apart from nodding their heads to all of the requests from the international organizations, which exerted a coordinated pressure on Zagreb officials who eventually met all of their demands.
Dnevni List: Chris Riley says no conspiracy theory exists
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Dnevni List carries a part of the interview that Chris Riley, the Head of the OHR’s Media Development Department, gave for Hrvatska Rijec.
Could you comment on the plan of the International Community that originated in Brussels under the name “Roman Defense,” which was created by the civil structures of NATO with the purpose of identifying a lasting peace solution in BiH and which suggests assimilation of Croats and Bosniaks into a single nation so as to provide for a lasting peace in BiH?
Chris Riley: My job falls under the realm of media development and I have no findings about that.
The plan refers to assimilation media-wise as well. Is the shutdown of the HRT signal not too obvious, as well as the imposition of the FTV on Croats in BiH?
Chris Riley: First of all, we do not work for NATO. The OHR is responsible to the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council and the establishment of an agency such as the CRA is in accordance with the functioning of similar agencies in Europe. They are established to be independent, which means they are independent from any external influence. I am telling you now that the OHR is not telling the CRA what to do, and if you do not believe me, you can ask the members of the CRA Council. For you to understand why the HRT cannot broadcast here by terrestrial network, let me tell you that there is no conspiracy theory behind it, the role of the OHR in the establishing of the public broadcasting system is to make sure that there is a media outlet that Croats in BiH would have access to, the outlet that would be for them and where they would work. The reason why the HRT could not get a license in this country is the fact that it is a state media of another country.
Dnevni List: Chris Riley and Tihomir Begic in TV show ‘Kompas’ of Croat TV Mostar
(Provided by OHR Mostar)
Chris Riley, the Head of the OHR Media Development Department, stated in the TV show ‘Kompas’ of the Croat TV Mostar, that the International Community will invest one million Marks in the production of the Federation TV program in Croatian language and it will build a large studio in Herzegovina.
He stressed that the public RTV Service cannot be established without the Federation TV, and that the Croats had been excluded from the informative system in BiH before the establishment of the Federation TV. The HDZ obstructed the establishment of the Federation TV, and threats to some Croat journalists who wanted to work for the FTV were noted.’
According to Tihomir Begic, the Advisor for Media of the President of the Croat National Assembly, the FTV is a discriminatory TV and represents an instrument of the banning of the Croat national identity in BiH. Begic stated: ‘All public opinion polls, which have been conducted, are the best proof in which way the Federation TV has been accepted by viewers.’ He reminded of the proposal on the establishment of two channels on the Federation TV: the Croat and Bosniak one. The Advisor for Media of the President of the Croat National Assembly, believes that what we are watching at the moment is a sort of hybrid, a mixture of everything and it is a constitutional right of the Croats in BiH that they can watch program in their own, Croatian language.
Both, Riley and Begic agreed that the former political leadership of the Croat people is responsible for the currently extremely difficult situation of the BiH Croats when media is in question.
Editorials:
Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz
In the Saturday’s Oslobodjenje In Focus column, Emir Habul commented on the recent appointment of the new directors of the two intelligence services in the BiH Federation. According to Habul, these appointments show that it will not be easy for the Alliance for Changes to completely annul parallel structures in the BiH Federation. In another editorial on the Saturday’s Oslobodjenje second page, Mirko Sagolj wrote that although everyone was speaking about Bosnia, there was less and less Bosnia every day. Sagolj illustrated this thesis with the transformation of the RTV BiH and BH Press news agency from the BiH state level media into the entity institutions. Fadil Mandal wrote in the Saturday’s Avaz Commentary of the Day that Republika Srpska Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic would have to decide soon whether he would remain in the coalition with the SDS nationalists or he would look for partners whom with he would be able to carry out the economic reforms. In the Sunday’s Oslobodjenje editorial, Zija Dizdarevic wrote that, during his recent visit to Paris, Zlatko Lagumdzija was received just as the BiH Foreign Minister and not as the Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers. Dizdarevic concludes that its seems France wanted to send a message that the RS was still more important than the state of BiH. On the other side, Dizdarevic wrote, Lagumdzija was welcomed in Germany at the highest level as the BiH State Premier. Jasna Sogolj concludes in the Sunday’s Dnevni Avaz Commentary of the Day that failed negotiations on the replacement of the directors of the public enterprises are still being held in the Sarajevo Canton. The political parties are, according to Sogolj, struggling for their own director’s positions instead of to show authority and replace those sitting in the director’s offices for years. In the Monday’s Oslobodjenje editorials, Ibrahim Prohic and Ramo Kolar commented on the arrival of the newly-appointed US Ambassador to BiH Clifford Bond and his inaugural press conference. Prohic concludes that it was obvious from the Bond’s first public address that BiH had finally become an US partner. On the other side, Kolar writes that Bond promised financial support to the State but that this will not mean much since there are too many states in BiH, meaning the levels of the authority. Enes Plecic wrote in the Monday’s Avaz Commentary of the Day that there would be no real returns of the people to their pre-war houses if they are not to be employed or financially support in their private business, for example the agricultural production, even before their houses or apartments are reconstructed.