Thursday, August 30, 2007

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY'S HIGH REPRESENTATIVE IN BOSNIA MIROSLAV LAJCAK TO UNVEIL POLICE REFORM PLAN

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 30,2007) – The international community's high representative in Bosnia,Miroslav Lajcak, said yesterday he has a blueprint for police reform under wraps which would pave the way for Bosnia for pre-entry talks with the European Union.

Miroslav Lajcak said he would reveal his plan at a series of meetings with the political leaders of Bosnia's parliamentary parties.

The president of the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "the RS" Milan Jelic, said Serbians living in Bosnia wouldn’t consent to the abolition of their police force.
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Lajcak hopes to reach a compromise solution on police reforms. However the outcome of the party talks is as yet uncertain.The political leaders of the Serbians living in Bosnia share Jelic's opposition to the police reform in Bosnia.

Police and constitutional reforms remain the last barrier along Bosnia’s road to the European Union membership.

BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY MEMBER HARIS SILAJDZIC SENT A LETTER TO PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN PERVEZ MUSHARRAF

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 30,2007) - A member of the Bosnian Presidency, Dr Haris Silajdžić, received in his Cabinet the farewell visit of Shireen A. Moiz, the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Ambassador Moiz emphasized that she would leave Bosnia happy because cooperation between the two countries rises. As she said, she was especially satisfied about the donation of motor cultivators for genocide victims in Srebrenica, the fraternization of Tuzla and the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, as well as about financing the construction of the new Innovative Business Centre in Tuzla worth 2.5 million EUR.

According to her, the Centre is to be built near the monument for the Pakistani battalion or the old municipal building of Tuzla would be altered for these purposes.

Dr Silajdžić stressed out that Bosnia and Pakistan have very good political relations, and he expressed hope that the economic cooperation would be better in the future, regardless of the great distance between the two countries.

”The recent visit of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to our country was very useful and successful”, said Dr Silajdžić and sent a letter trough the ambassador to President Musharraf thanking for all the help Pakistan has given to Bosnia.

BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY MEMBER HARIS SILAJDZIC MET WITH COUNCIL OF EUROPE'S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN BOSNIA TIM CARTWRIGHT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 30,2007) - A member of the Bosnian Presidency Dr Haris Silajdžić met with Mr. Tim Cartwright, the Special Representative of the Council of Europe Secretary-General in Bosnia.

Mr. Cartwright expressed pleasure with having an opportunity to visit Bosnia, and said that he would continue to monitor the developments in Bosnia. He also said that the Council of Europe Secretary-General would continue with the practice of appointing his Special Representatives in Bosnia.

During the meeting, Dr Silajdžić emphasized importance of the Council of Europe’s role in Bosnia, stressing out that Bosnia would continue to work on fulfilling its commitments as a member of the Council of Europe.

Dr Silajdžić particularly pointed out that advocating the respect for human rights in Bosnia is everybody’s responsibility – as of domestic players as well as of international ones.

At the end, Dr Silajdžić thanked Mr. Cartwright on his active work during his mandate in Bosnia and he wished him success in his new duty.

POLITICAL LEADERS OF THE SERBIANS LIVING IN BOSNIA URGED TO CONDEMN PUBLIC DISPLAYING OF THE IMAGES OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINALS KARADZIC AND MLADIC

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 30,2007) - Gradimir Gojer, a playwright, sent an open letter to the Prime Minister of the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia ("the RS") Milorad Dodik and a member of the Bosnian Presidency Nebojsa Radmanovic, urging, as a Bosnian citizen, that these two political leaders of the Serbians living in Bosnia publicly state they are against the public displays of Serbian war criminals Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic’s images at the public places.

”On several locations in the RS, even at the very center of Banja Luka, posters, t-shirts, flags and other images of Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic are sold. They are the persons wanted by the International Court of Justice (ICTY)," Gojer said

Gojer expressed a hope that the two politicians will prove through this gesture that their engagement in the fight against fascism bears a full dignity.

SDA PRESIDENT SULEJMAN TIHIC TO DISCUSS POLICE REFORM WITH INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY'S HIGH REPRESENTATIVE IN BOSNIA MIROSLAV LAJCAK

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 30,2007) – The President of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) Sulejman Tihic told Bosnian media that he will have a meeting with the internatioal community's High Representative in Bosnia most probably today, to discuss the police reform issue.

Tihic said that the SDA party is not the problem in the issue, but the political parties of the Serbians living in Bosnia which refused both the Marten’s Plan, the Vlasic Statement and the Police Reform direction Report.

”They have been refusing everything achieved so far. As far as the SDA party is concerned, we are siding a full respect of the three EU principles which mean exclusive legislative jurisdiction at the state level, functioning of local police structures in which the local and police lines will not pose a threat for their implementation”, Tihic said.

He added he wants to believe the police reform issue will be solved in September.

LEADERS OF FOUR RULING POLITICAL PARTIES IN FBIH ENTITY AGREED TO ADOPT 19 LAWS

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 30,2007) – Leaders and representatives of the four ruling parties in the FBIH Entity (SDA,SBIH, HDZBiH and HDZ1990),the FBIH Entity Prime minister Nedzad Brankovic and representatives of six parliamentary caucuses agreed at a meeting in Sarajevo at the SDA Party headquarters to ensure a better coordination of the FBIH Entity executive and legislative authorities in order to adopt 19 laws during September. Some of the laws have already been sent to the parliamentary procedure.

Presidents of the SDA,SBIH and HDZ BiH parties, Sulejman Tihic, Haris Silajdzic and Dragan Covic attended, while Damir Ljubic represented that HDZ 1990 party.

The FBIH Entity Prime minister Brankovic told the press after the meeting that September is immensely important for the FBIH Entity Parliament because the fiscal year is coming to an end and preparations should be made for the following budget year.

The laws that are to be adopted are in the field of fiscal policy; including the Law on Income Tax and Law on Benefits; as well as the privatization policy document and budget rebalance prepared by the FBIH Entity Government.

”In this way, we can control all the processes in order to realize the issues defined by the Government’s mandatory program. That means introducing a new stage of development”, Brankovic said.

He emphasized that such meetings do not mean that the FBIH Entity Parliament is ignored, for it is a well-known fact that the parties which participated at the meeting are the parliamentary majority.

He also emphasized that the FBIH Entity Parliament will have many an activity during September, for there are many laws that have been placed to the parliamentary procedure. The main goal is to prepare the FBIH entity budget for 2008 in later October.

Representatives of the parties also talked about the measures the FBIH Entity Government can take because of the bread prices growth.

Brankovic said that the Government only possesses stocks for emergency situations, which means 15.000 tons of crops and purchase of new stocks. the FBIH Entity Government is not the owner of capital in any bakery and cannot control prices.

Dragan Covic, HDZ BiH President said that the topic was ways of coordination of the FBIH entity executive and legislative authority so that certain laws are passed in September.

President of the SBiH Haris Silajdzic emphasized that one must make sure that the coordination between the FBIH Entity Government and Parliament is ensured.

BOSNIAN POLICE AND INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES LAUNCHED AN INVESTIGATION INTO EXPORT OF BOSNIAN ARMS TO IRAQ

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 30,2007) - Bosnian police and intelligence agencies have launched a massive investigation into export of Bosnian arms to Iraq.The initial inquiry reveals names of Bosnian citizens and foreign nationals suspected of doing mistakes in the course of export of thousands of rifles and hundreds of thousands rounds of ammunition to Iraq in the period 2004-2005.

US Government Accountability Office (GAO) said earlier that number of small arms shipped from Bosnia and Serbia to Iraq went missing.

GAO said there are no serial numbers on the weaponry which was said to be for arming the fledging Iraqi military in 2004-2005. Therefore, it's impossible to confirm whether the final intended recipient of the weapons was the regular army in Iraq or they may have fallen into the hands of somebody else.