SDA PRESIDENT SULEJMAN TIHIC: OHR'S PROPOSAL AWARDS OBSTRUCTION

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (September 4,2007) - The President of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA),Sulejman Tihic said that the proposal for police reform presented by the Office of the international communiy's high representative in Bosnia (OHR) awards the policy of obstruction.

“This proposal awards those who have been rejecting police reform for four years and who have been radicalising the situation in Bosnia for the last year. If we continue to do things like this then no one will accept any agreement or compromise and will by using radical rhetoric and rejecting everything always get what they want”,Tihic said.


According to him the proposal for police reform presented by OHR keeps the situation unchanged.

“We shall not have a capable, efficient police that will fight organised crime, a police that will be efficient in arresting war criminals and which will be able to fight terrorism. The present situation is clear proof that such a police will not be able to do any of this. This protocol legalises the current situation”, the SDA President said.

Tihic said that the proposed protocol fully accepts the demands of (the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia) "the RS"

“It means that the RS police will continue to exist. Under this proposal there will be three levels of organisation of the police in the RS and two levels in the FBIH. It completely devalues the principles of budget funding from the Bosnian state level and the principle of banning political influence, as well as the principle of local police regions”, Tihic said.

He added that the budgets will be defined based on decisions of the RS and the cantons and that they will then be considered by some sort of a coordination body of the Ministry of Security chaired by its deputy. This body will then reach decisions in consensus and by using the principle of ethnic voting.

Tihic stated that this proposal makes no mention of a state police.

“In reality the state police does not exist, it does exist on paper, however, it is practically reduced to an association of citizens where people will sit, discuss things, hold talks, make decisions in consensus based on ethnic and entity voting. This is in contradiction with the Bosnian Constitution. The principle of entity decision making and ethnic voting has never existed in administrative structures. This proposal introduces exactly that, and to make matters worse in introduces all of this in a police force which should function efficiently. We have a director who has been entirely stripped of his authorities because the proposal foresees assistants who are responsible and in charge of local police areas in the RS an FBIH. This is an utter legalisation of the current situation and the proposal provides no ground for reform”, Tihic said,


Asked whether he has informed the international community's high representative in Bosnia,Miroslav Lajcak,about his views, Tihic said that he has done exactly this.

“I told him this at the meeting.I told him this in person because he was previously informed by Haris Silajdzic that he does not accept the proposal and I told him that I concur with Silajdzic. I told him that I see this as a reward for those who have obstructed the entire process, that it is a reward for those who have been radicalising the situation all this time and that it sets a bad example for future reforms. After being allowed to reject everything and in the end to have things their way they will now accept to nothing”, Tihic said.

Asked what was Lajcak’s reaction to all this, Tihic said that he was somewhat surprised by what he had to say.

“I guess he expected a different reaction from me. You know that I am always open for compromise and that I am aware that the only possible and realistic policy is to do things one step at a time. However, this proposal does not represent a small step forward. It legalises the existing situation”, the SDA President,Sulejman Tihic said.