TV news broadcast on
| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | TV PINK (18,00 hrs) | BHT 1 (19,00 hrs) |
| HDZ 1990 established | A person arrested in Bijeljina | Fatima Omic’s killer arrested |
| Media on HDZ 1990 | BiH EPA’s request to EUFOR | 3 hurt professors still in life danger |
| Andan resigned because of Del Ponte | Report on pyramid in Visoko | RS NA Dep. Speaker’s car found |
| U.S. Croatian Assoc. on const. reform | Report on wind-mills | Pupil’s body still not found |
| NTV Hayat (19,00 hrs) | FTV (19,30 hrs) | RTRS (19,30 hrs) |
| BIH Fanaticos react. on CD’s criticism | Pupil’s body still not found | RS NA Dep. Speaker’s car found |
| New HDZ 1990 established | Fatima Omic’s killer arrested | Two persons injured in Trebinje |
| | RS NA Dep. Speaker’s car found | Three persons arrested in BL |
| PYM on constitutional changes | Protests due to electricity prices | A person arrested in Bijeljina |
| Oslobodjenje | HDZ 1990 see role models in Croatian and Sanader |
| Dnevni Avaz | They force us to do business with suspicious people (interview with ITA Director Causevic) |
| Dnevni List | Croats get new parliamentary party (establishment of HDZ 1990) |
| Vecernji List | HDZ 1990 established |
| Nezavisne Novine | Manifestation in honour of spring (sports competitions in |
Andan Resignation/Cooperation with ICTY/Crimes | |
| RS Politicians feel new RS Police Director must unblock cooperation with ICTY
| BHT1 – Report by Boris Gagic – RS politicians feel that new RS Police Director must unblock cooperation with ICTY. They also feel that the lack of this cooperation has resulted in resignation of RS Police Director Dragomir Andan. Reporter comments that it seems that changes in RS MoI were expected in |
| Reactions to Andan’s resignation: SNSD’s Simic – he should have resigned long ago;
| Dnevni Avaz, pg 3, mentioned on front ‘Cheater who should not have been appointed in the first place’, by N. Dilkic – H. Orahovac – Avaz notes that the appointment of Dragomir Andan into the office of RS Police Director caused controversies from the day one of the appointment since some people commended his professionalism, whilst others labelled him as war criminal and war criminal’s aide and former close associate to Ratko Mladic. SNSD’s Krstan Simic says Andan should have resigned long time ago, given results in eradicating crime and cooperation with the ICTY. Simic says the IC, even if comes from the ICTY Chief Prosecutor, should not have interfered into the case. |
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| Nezavisne Novine, pg 3 ‘Andan punished because he represented interests of RS’, by D. Bo. – Serb Radical Party of RS believes that resignation of Dragomir Andan was forced i.e. it is a punishment for his consistent representation of interests of the RS in the work of the Police Reform Directorate. (Andan made proposal that RS MoI remains in place in the future) |
| DL oped: Andan’s tenure full of controversies
| Dnevni List, pg 2 ‘Demise of Andan’, by Danka Polovina-Mandic – DL says in its op-ed that Dragomir Andan’s tenure in office of RS Police Director caused many controversies. The author highlights statement Andan made when he had assumed the office when he said that he did not know whereabouts of Radovan Karadzic, claiming that he instead knew everything about mujahiddin terrorists who in BiH planned the attack on train in |
| BHT1: ICTY should complete work by 2010, experts claim ICTY is too expensive
| BHT1 – Report by Boris Gagic – ICTY should complete its work by 2010. Reporter comments that it is still uncertain whether this deadline will be met since major ICTY indictees are still at large. ICTY representative for BIH Matias Hellman stated that the arrest of the mentioned indictees should be a priority for ICTY, international community and countries from the region. Reporter comments that ICTY, according to expert opinions, was an expensive and non-efficient institution. Emir Suljagic from |
| Oslobodjenje: Source close to OHR says destiny of Colonel Palic already known, it will be revealed by April 21
| Oslobodjenje, pg 6 ‘It will be known in 15 days where Avdo Palic is?’, by E. Kamenica – According to the daily source close to the OHR, the destiny of the missing BiH Army colonel Avdo Palic is already known, however there is a reason why the public has not been provided with the information. (Colonel Palic went missing in July 1995 from the UN-protected zone of Zepa, former HR Ashdown formed a commission that should reveal Palic’s destiny by April 21, 2006). Oslobodjenje notes the new turn in events can be related to the testimony of Zeljko Mijatovic, who is currently a bodyguard of |
| Update to murder of Bosniak returnee to Potocari: Police arrest murder suspect
| Pink, Hayat, RTRS – Being suspected of killing Fatima Omic from Potocari near Srebrenica, a person has been arrested. Namely, according to Pink – BiH Endangered People Association (EPA) asked EUFOR to provide security to returnees since it presented a crucial issue in terms of establishing permanent peace. |
Constitutional Changes | |
| RS President Cavic expect const. Amendments will be adopted, law expert Kuzmanovic warns changes are being made too fast
| RTRS – By Radoslav Banovic – The RS President Dragan Cavic expects the constitutional amendments to be passed in the BiH Parliamentary Assembly since, according to him, they present a good compromise by which entity structure is not being violated. The amendments improve BiH institutions’ functionality, claims Cavic. The Chairman of the RS Science and Arts Academy and Constitutional Law expert Rajko Kuzmanovic agrees that the amendments strengthen BiH institutions’ roles and do not violate or endanger the RS’ vital national interests, but adds that public and BiH Parliament should have been engaged more in the issue. “No one should oppose the fact that certain regulations in the BiH Constitution should be changed, but it is unacceptable for the changes to take place so fast, since in that way a number of mistakes can occur”, explain Kuzmanovic. Main |
| SNSD’s Spiric: IC will make sure const. Changes get adopted, asks from IC what 2nd phase of talks is all about
| Nezavisne Novine, pgs 8-10, mentioned on front ‘Constitutional amendments will be adopted in state parliament’, by Mirjana Kusmuk – carries an interview with Deputy Speaker of BiH House of Representative, Nikola Spiric (SNSD), who talks about several topical political issues in BiH, including the constitutional changes. He notes the IC will do everything to make sure the constitutional amendments do get adopted in the BiH Parliament, believing that the pressures (exerted by IC) will bear fruit. As for the second phase of constitutional changes that is being mentioned a lot in the FBIH, Spiric says the IC should explain what the second phase will be about since some parties in the FBiH want to talk about the status of entities in BiH. In that context, Spiric says if the second phase is about abolishment of the entities, he calls on the RS leaders ‘to stop’ in other words to oppose such changes. |
| HDZ 1990’s Raguz: Proposed amendments is not solution for Croats, HDZ 1990 will not support changes if entity voting remains
| Hayat – Senad Hadzifejzovic – In an interview for Centralni Dnevnik (CD), Speaker of BIH House of Representatives and deputy chairman of HDZ 1990 Martin Raguz commented the issue of constitutional changes. Raguz stated that after 10 years of signing of the Dayton Peace Accord (DPA), it was time to analyse the DPA and BIH future adding that it was also time for Croats to solve their vital issues in BIH. For Raguz, amendments to BIH constitution present a kind of test for the politicians’ credibility. “The offered text isn’t the solution for BIH especially for the Croats. We are going to present concrete amendments regarding the voting in the BIH HoR and if changes are not made, namely abolishment of entity voting, we are not going to support constitutional changes” stressed Raguz. He is of opinion that second phase is necessary but “we cannot work on the ‘take or leave it’ principle, everyone has to contribute to the development of BIH”. Reporter stressed that the voting on constitutional changes lacks political seriousness because of the entire market-like behaviour of politicians. Raguz agreed that there are a lot of political relations lacking the transparency but “BIH Parliament has to take the full responsibility in this situation, we are for changes that everyone will benefit from”. |
| Cardinal Puljic: I am for changes to DPA, but not in this form; changes endanger Croats
| Hayat – By Senka Hadzovic – In an interview for Centralni Dnevnik, Cardinal Vinko Puljic agreed with reporter’s comment that he acts as both political and religious leader of Croats adding that he advocates for human rights and freedom. “I’m not against reform of Dayton Agreement; I am for the changes but not in this form. I am for BIH with democratic institutions that will defend human rights; I am for BIH with peoples that are equal. But the offered reform has scared us (Croats) because it endangers our existence. If entity vote principle is adopted we are gone” Puljic explained his recent opposition towards the constitutional changes. He added that issue of constitutional changes is of grate political importance and his critical notes are intended to warn politicians that there are problems that need to be solved. According to Puljic, a solution for the constitutional changes would be organization of BIH at three levels (state, regional, local-municipal), where entity voting would be present at the second, or regional, level. Reporter remarked that political paradox has been created with two groups either supporting or rejecting the constitutional changes, in which Puljic is now in the group with (Haris) Silajdzic and (Sejfudin) Tokic (opponents) while (HDZ Leader Dragan) Covic is in group with (reisu-l-lema Mustafa effendi) Ceric and (SDA Leader Sulejman) Tihic and SDS. |
| Hayat’s ‘Face to Face’: Young intellectuals pro and contra proposed constitutional changes
| Hayat – By Senad Hadzifejzovic – Guests of ‘Face to Face’ were Ivan Barbalic, President of ACIPS (Alumni Association of the Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies ofthe University of Sarajevo) and Zlatko Hadzidedic, advisor to BiH Minister of Civil Affairs Safet Halilovic and author of a proposed BIH Constitution, who discussed the issue of constitutional changes. Barbalic believes that this was the good time for adoption of the amendments on constitutional changes since all political sides sat down and reached the compromise what was considered as impossible three years ago. On the other side, Hadzidedic disagreed with Barbalic that the agreement should be signed now. “The amendments are damaging for BIH because they ensure eventual separation of RS from BIH” explained Hadzidedic. Regarding the remark on RS separation, Barbalic is of opinion that these remarks are used to polarize political situation in BIH and cause tensions. He emphasised the importance of the constitutional changes “especially when supported by U.S.A. and EU with guarantees that the process will be continued. Now, we are going to have more efficient state mechanism that will ensure more efficient communication with EU”. Hadzidedic stressed that the agreement was imposed “allegedly by Donald Hays and we have the situation where U.S. Ambassador (Douglas McElhaney) took that agreement and kept the politicians closed in the room until it was signed”. As an explanation of the core of the constitutional changes, Hadzidedic used the personal anecdote with Donald Hays. Namely, Hadzidedic claimed that “during the initial phase of the negotiations on the constitutional changes, Donald Hays came to me and without the reason he said: ‘If you think I have come here to impose to RS your political solutions then you are wrong’. On that I told him: ‘Yes, I think I understood you correctly, then you came here to impose RS political will to us’. As being actively involved in the negotiations, I have to admit that the process of negotiations exactly resembled my conversation with Hays. The core of the negotiations was to have Hays and McElhaney force (Sulejman) Tihic and Minister (Safet) Halilovic, not (Zlatko) Lagumdzija because he was from the start for that, to accept their proposals that represent all what Milorad Dodik wanted”. (Note: please not that Hadzidedic is the author of a BIH Constitution that was once sent to the Parliament for discussion but was never put on the agenda. Hadzidedic also accused Barbalic of advocating for Lagumdzija when they talked about the importance of the constitutional changes.) |
| Political Youth Movement: Const. Changes should be published | Hayat – Head of the newly formed Political Youth Movement (PYM) Vedran Dodik stated that this movement has 1000 members adding that the entire text of the constitutional changes should be published prior to the parliamentarian discussion for citizens to read it. |
| Hayat’s question of day: Are you familiar with const. Changes?
| Question of the day: Is anything clear to you regarding the constitutional changes? Commenting the constitutional changes, citizens stressed that they do not understand the constitutional changes since half of the ruling parties and half of the opposition are against the agreement. Many citizens stated that constitutional changes are aimed at preservation of RS since the agreement was prepared in Belgrade. |
| Hayat phone poll: Who is most endangered, citizens, Croats, Bosniaks or Serbs
| Citizens were asked to vote as to who was most endangered in BIH, whether it is the citizens, the Croats, the Bosniaks or the Serbs. Telephone poll results: 1403 voted for Citizens 134 voted for Croats 658 voted for Bosniaks 41 voted for Serbs. |
Political Developments | |
| Expelled members of HDZ BiH Ljubic and Raguz form ‘HDZ 1990’, promise to focus on opening new jobs, oppose to proposed constitutional changes
| BHT1 – Report by Seid Masnica – New party under the name ‘HDZ 1990’ was formed in Mostar on Saturday. Bozo Ljubic, former HDZ member, was appointed as acting party chairman. HDZ 1990 members stressed that the party would act responsibly and with focus on opening new jobs, solving of social and health issues, support to education workers and improvement of education system. Martin Raguz who was appointed as acting deputy chairman of HDZ 1990 stated that the difference between HDZ and HDZ 1990 would be in credibility and democratic profile. HDZ on the other hand feels that the forming of HDZ 1990 does not represent competition for them. HDZ member and BIH Presidency member Ivo Miro Jovic stressed that everyone has a right to form a party. |
| SNSD’s Spiric: BiH CoM is not responsible to BiH Parliament, but rather to OHR
| Nezavisne Novine, pgs 8-10, mentioned on front ‘Constitutional amendments will be adopted in state parliament’, by Mirjana Kusmuk – carries an interview with Deputy Speaker of BiH House of Representative, Nikola Spiric (SNSD), who talks about several topical political issues in BiH, including the relationship between the BiH CoM and BiH Parliament. Spiric says that most likely the motion of vote of no confidence in the BiH CoM (submitted by MP Gligorevic) will be discussed in the BiH HoR on April 12 or 13, however he does not believe that the MPs will remove the BiH Com. Spiric insists that the BiH CoM is not responsible to the BiH Parliament, which should be the case, instead is responsible to the OHR only. |
| Political movement of BiH youth formed in Sarajevo
| BHT1 – Political movement of BIH youth was formed in Sarajevo on Saturday. The goal of the movement is to include young people in all levels of authority. Chair of this party Vedran Dodik stated that the party would fight for participation in the political scene through elections. Dodik stressed that the party would not form a coalition with anyone and added that they are not “the youth” of any party in BIH. “We are independent political organisation that gathers young people”, says Dodik. (also reported by Hayat, RTRS) |
| Hayat comment: SNSD’s Dodik and SDP’s Lagumdzija abusing daily politics to assume power | Hayat – By Vlastimir Mijovic – Commenting on the situation in BIH, Mijovic stressed that BiH will be smothered by political careerism of people leading BIH or franticly fighting to get there instead of nationalism as it is feared. Mijovic mentioned RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and SDP Leader Zlatko Lagumdzija as examples for his statements. Reporter criticized Dodik and Lagumdzija for their fight for power adding that both of the above-mentioned politicians have sank to the bottom of the daily politics. Mijovic noted that both Dodik and Lagumdzija had resisted the temptation of the power for long time but today “Dodik absorbed by social-democracy threats that he will fight with anyone who will try to remove RS symbols from his office while Lagumdzija, contradicting himself, glorifies minimal and nationalistic improvements regarding the organisation of BIH. Something what he was ready to condemn yesterday as cheap political move, today he praises as important step forward for strengthening the country ”. |
Economy/Social Issues | |
| Citizens in
| BHT1 – Report by Marina Boskovic – Citizens in |
| CEO of ‘Elektroprivreda BiH’ Kreso: FBIH Govt and FERK agreed on increase of prices of electricity in several phases
| Hayat – By Senad Hadzifejzovic – In the interview for Centralni Dnevnik, CEO of ‘Elektroprivreda BIH’ Enver Kreso commented the FBIH Electricity Regulatory Agency’s (FERK) decision on increasing prices of electricity.Kreso stated that he has no information why FERK has increased prices adding that the FERK has legal authorisation for such decision. He also stated that FBIH Government and FERK have agreed on increase of prices in several phases adding that Elektroprivreda only submits the annual report to FERK. Asked to comment on the social situation of citizens related to paying of electricity bills, Kreso noted that electricity must be paid however “the FBIH Government is responsible for not designing some kind of social program for citizens that are not in position to pay the full price”. (Note: Please note that FBIH Prime Minister Ahmed Hadzipasic was also invited to CD for the conversation with Kreso which he refused. Reporter also asked several very provocative questions to Kreso regarding his appointment. Kreso was asked which party has appointed him and can that party ‘keep’ him in that position. At first Kreso refused to answer which party he supported but later he openly stated that he supports SBIH.) |
| IRA Director Causevic: Political interference makes work of ITA more difficult | Dnevni Avaz, front pg splash and pg 5 ‘They force us to do business with suspicious people’, by Faruk Cardzic – The Director of Indirect Tax Administration (ITA), Kemal Causevic, notes that the recent discussions related to distribution of public revenues from the single account are not affecting the work of ITA, however he complains of political interferences that make the work of ITA difficult. Namely, Causevic explains that the ITA wants to build a regional customs centre in Tuzla, which could be financed by the EU in amount of 21 million Euros (negotiations are ongoing), however the BiH authorities (relevant commission in the BiH Parliament) is not giving the green light for purchase of a construction site in Tuzla. Instead, the commission is trying to force the ITA to rent premises that, according to Causevic, are owned by people with very suspicious past. Inset ‘We have worrying increase of revenues’ carries Causevic as saying the VAT has caused a dramatic increase in collection of public revenues, namely the collection in first 3 months of 2006 is better by 12% than in the same period of 2005. In that context, Causevic is worried that too much money is being extracted from the economy. |