27 October 97, 19:30
The office of the President of the Central Bosnian cantonal Government issued a statement informing that “one Ivica Domic was brutally killed in the village Podkraj, municipality Travnik on 26 October at 18:30 hrs, while his father and brother were seriously wounded”. The attack was carried out by an unknown perpetrator who approached the Domic’s house and opened fire. The local police immediately initiated an investigation and informed IPTF and SFOR. The statement underlined that “having analyzed the problem of the last several killings of Croat citizens, it can be asserted that everything points to organized criminal activities with elements of political terrorism, threatening establishment of cantonal and federation institutions”. Deputy governor of the CBC Adnan Terzic stated that “this criminal act occurred at a time when both Bosniak and Croat representatives in the Travnik municipality fully committed themselves to the federation concept”. Terzic appealed that “everyone should take part in the struggle against crime”. The SDA Travnik condemned the act of killing and requested an immediate and thorough investigation.
At a press conference in Sarajevo, international officials informed the press about the event in Travnik. UN Spokesman told the conference that an early morning explosion in Brcko damaged the foundation of an Orthodox church.
2:50
Chairman and a member of the BH Presidency, Izetbegovic and Zubak, met separately with Peter Nicol, who has been proposed by the IMF Steering Board to become the Governor of the BiH Central Bank. The talks focused on the organisation of the bank, design of convertible Deutsche mark and competencies of the governor.
0:50
Chairman of the BiH CoM Haris Silajdzic held talks with the British Ambassador to BiH, Charles Crawford, on the current situation in the country, the Sintra agreement and the upcoming conference in Vienna. During the talks, Silajdzic underlined the importance of harmonizing the constitutions of entities with the BiH constitution as envisaged under the DPA and expressed hope that the Pale leadership would finally endorse the draft on citizenship.
0:50
The media featured a lengthy report on EU Commissioner Hans Van den Broek’s visit to Mostar and Banja Luka. In Mostar, the EU Commissioner met with top Federation officials, Soljic and Ganic, and the city and cantonal representatives. After the meeting, Brooke officially opened the city administration building and held a press conference. In his address, he underlined that the formation of the city administration was a giant step accomplished by the EU.
In Banja Luka, Van den Broek met with RS President Biljana Plavsic to discuss the announced November elections and freedom of media. Addressing the press after the meeting, the EU Commissioner underscored the importance of the upcoming elections in the RS and said: “It is a choice between heading towards the new future in close cooperation with the international community, or choosing isolation and despair”.
RS President Biljana Plavsic expressed hope that the elections would lead to establishment of “a democratic parliament to reflect the people’s will”. She also underlined the need for economic aid and establishment of strong ties with Europe.
3:50
OSCE Spokesman Johan van Hayden stated that the PEC confirmed the election results for the Mostar City Council, first announced on 10 October. According to these results, the CCD Coalition won 14 and the HDZ 10 seats in the Council.
The OSCE Spokesman confirmed that RS officials threatened to arrest elected SDA deputies should they show up in Srebrenica. He also mentioned that the authorities in Velika Kladusa threatened to arrest DNZ deputies. Van Hayden underlined that the local authorities were not empowered to arrest suspects of war crimes, and that the Hague Tribunal was the only institution to decide on these matters.
1:50
Upon a request by the Office of Ombudsmen, the RS authorities released Zlatko Memovic, accused of war crimes, said the OSCE Spokesman.
0:30