Banja Luka – President Plavsic met the Hungarian Ambassador to BiH, and talked about the political situation in the RS and pre-term elections, and economic co-operation between Hungary and the RS. The Ambassador will send a group of experts to do research and give aid to the RS. Plavsic also met the head of the Association Greek and Serb Friendship, and talked about economic issues and co-operation. The Association has established a forum in Athens which should gather businessmen who are interested in donating in the RS.
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Member of BiH Presidency Krajisnik stated that the parliamentary and presidential elections in the RS must stop the current crisis in the RS. At today’s meeting with head of OSCE Frowick, Krajisnik underlined that the time period between the holding of these two elections must be as short as possible, since both elections are closely connected. OSCE suggested November 23 for holding of the parliamentary elections, and September 15 (probably meaning December) for the presidential ones.
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Flash News:
- Belgrade – FRY President Milosevic met the US Special Envoy Gelbard. After the meeting Gelbard held a press conference.
- UK Ambassador to FRY, Roberts, said that the war in former Yugoslavia was caused by people who are either not informed about the history of this region or are too informed about it. In his interview to Blic (Serbian paper), Roberts denied the possibility that the BiH war was caused due to the US and European competition of who has more power here, adding that this was yet another theory of conspiracy he has heard in this country, and nothing but pure stupidity. He also said that BiH war was thoughtless and meaningless since there are a lot of other more peaceful ways for helping people to gain what they want.
- The Greek paper Elefteros Tipus finds the situation in the RS and Federation very dangerous and critical, reminding that election results could not solve any problems, and supporting their claims with the fact that the election results have not been announced a month after the elections. The SFOR action on seizing the SRT transmitters and Pale TV isolation from the network also influenced the global situation.
- Wall Street Journal reported that the US Administration has split opinions with regard to the situation in BiH as a unified state. Some congressmen say that implementation forces must withdraw at some point, and divide BiH along its entity boundaries to BiH Federation and the RS. The hatred among Serbs, Croats, and Muslim is a cruel reality which sentences BiH to death. The paper paid a lot of attention to US Congressman Baily who openly asked for BiH division and withdrawal of the US forces in the shortest time period possible.
- SFOR stopped further training of the Federation army until it proves it does not secretly hold POWs, said SFOR Spokesman Riley. We will see if there are any POWs illegally held in territory of BiH Union, Riley said, adding that the Federation was obliged to answer this question by the beginning of September. According to the DPA, both sides were obliged to release POWs by January 1996.
- HR Westendorp stated that the President of the SRT Steering Board, Krajisnik and General Manager of SRT, Toholj must be replaced. Beta news agency reported that Westendorp also said that he supports the idea that BiH must have an open, modern, and free media. The SFOR action will have a positive effect on the process of liberation and modernisation of media in the RS and whole of BiH, said Westendorp. He underlined that the IC will carry out the same operation in the Federation if necessary.
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Doboj – SDS Doboj held a party session re-electing the old party leader Ninkovic. Banja Luka TV was denied access to the meeting. They were called betrayers and enemies. However, SRT learnt that only two SDS members resigned – Ljubic, the Doboj Mayor, and Pantic, member of the town leadership. It is certain, SRT reported, that the regime that has been ruling for the last seven years will soon be over. The time has come for Doboj citizens to finally learn the truth, however, people are still afraid to ask certain questions. But things have to change for the better. SDS still has the power, and only those who mean good to this town left SDS.
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Manjaca – For the first time after the DPA and war, VRS organised a military training of the 1st and 3rd Corps using the joint strategy, heavy weapons, helicopters, and perfectly trained soldiers. They used the principle of simulated battle, which is in line with the DPA. Commander of the 1st Corps, Boskovic said that he is proud of the professionalism of the soldiers which was shown at the preliminary training. He said this was surprising since all of them had been in the war. Therefore, it only took them 10 days to prepare for such training, as opposed to the pre-war period when it had taken them two to three months of preparation. He announced that the final training will be held on October 8 where soldiers will show what they really know.
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SRT Pale has sent an open letter to the Hague Prosecutor, Arbour, saying that the right to free and different opinion are the principles of democracy in every political system, as well as the institutions that are based upon that right. In the peace and post-DPA period, those who still haven’t found an excuse for their actions are ‘punishing around.’ They are the same ones who used the same measures against us and our property in the end of summer (probably in 1995). Have you ever thought of accusing them of war crimes, SRT Pale said.
Banja Luka – The RS High Court continued the proceedings against the SDA leader, Izetbegovic who was accused of war crimes – ethnic cleansing and tortures of POWs and civilians. There were three more witnesses who delivered their stories (raping, severe tortures by the Muslim-Croat army in concentration camps, and ethnic cleansing). Izetbegovic’s public attorney complained, saying that Izetbegovic is protected by immunity, to which the public prosecutor objected, saying that this issue should be considered by the RS Supreme Court and BiH Court, which was finally accepted by the RS High Court. The proceedings will be continued in November.
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Belgrade – SRS leader Seselj gained more votes than Milosevic’s candidate Lilic in the second round of the Serbian presidential elections. However, only 49,82% of the whole Serbian population voted which will probably result with ‘null and void’ elections. That did not bother Seselj followers to organise a celebration of their victory cutting the celebratory cake on which it was written ‘the Greatest Serbia’.
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The RS PEC announced BiH local election results for another five municipalities – Sipovo (Socialist party won), Serb Gorazde (SDS and SRS shared same number of seats), Cajnice (BiH Coalition won), Stolac and Berkovici (SDS won), and Sekovici (SDS won).
Kotor Varos – Political parties that gained seats at the local elections held a meeting today, discussing the implementation of election results for that municipality. They agreed to fully implement the results (Coalition 13 seats, SDS 8, SRS 6, Socialists 3, HDZ 4, and Serb Patriotic Party SPAS 1 seat). Due to some speculations regarding who will be the mayor, Serb parties underlined that according to the agreement with OSCE and election rules, one national parties that won the majority of seats (that is the Serbs in this case, who gained 55% of votes) will have the power. Parties committed themselves to respecting people’s interests, and the agreements from Sintra.
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Split – 10 BiH Croats headed by Kordic surrendered themselves to the Hague due to severe US pressure. This operation was conducted by the US Envoy Gelbard. High ranking Croatian officials saw the group off at Split airport this morning.
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