REHN TELLS GENOCIDAL SERBIA TO STOP INTERFERING IN INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF BOSNIA

BRUSSELS, Belgium (November 16,2007) - Serbia will not be able to sign a pre-accession agreement with the European Union if it continues interfering in Bosnia's internal affairs, Olli Rehn, the European commissioner in charge of enlargement, stated yesterday in Brussels.

The EU Commissioner Rehn also urged Bosnia’s politicians not to listen to the “siren calls from Belgrade or Moscow”.

The warning came less than a week after Rehn and Serbia's President Tadic put their initials to a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), seen as a first step on the road to eventual EU membership.

Rehn said In an interview that he had conveyed the message to Tadic the previous Wednesday (7 November).

“We have made it clear that we expect that Serbia will not interfere in the domestic politics of Bosnia,” Rehn said.

Public attention has focused on another condition Serbia must fulfil before it can sign the SAA, full co-operation with the UN’s war crimes tribunal in The Hague. This demands “concrete steps” to apprehend Serbian war criminals who are currently living in Serbia, above all former commander of the genocidal paramilitary formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS),Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic, and to transfer them to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica is a close ally of the prime minister of the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia (RS),Milorad Dodik, and has supported Dodik’s refusal to agree to a reform of Bosnia’s ethnically fragmented police, which is a precondition for Bosnia to sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreement(SAA) with the European Union.

Rehn has been strongly criticised by the Bosnian officials over his decision to initial Serbia’s SAA while holding off on Bosnia’s.

EUFOR CAN QUICKLY DEAL WITH ANY UNREST THAT MIGHT ARISE IN BOSNIA

BRUSSELS, Belgium (November 16,2007) - The European Union's force in Bosnia (EUFOR) can quickly deal with any unrest that might arise in Bosnia due to political instability or tensions in the region, the EU's top military advisor General Henri Bentegeat said yesterday.

"In 24 hours we can triple the number of soldiers in Bosnia without any problem," said Bentegeat, chairman of the EU's military committee, after talks in Brussels between the European Union's chiefs of defence.

"We will be very attentive to the evolution of the situation, and of course we are ready, if necessary, to reinforce our forces there, being by a shift of forces between Bosnia and Kosovo if necessary," Bentegeat said.

He said the EU could also use its "strategic reserve" - a stand-by battalion of around 600 troops stationed outside the Southeastern Europe.

The bloc's EUFOR ALTHEA force numbers around 2,500 troops. The EU has no force stationed in Kosovo, but member countries who are also part of NATO have soldiers serving there in the alliance's 16,000-strong KFOR contingent.

A NATO diplomat said, on condition of anonymity: "The two forces (EUFOR and KFOR) have reserves which could be sent to the place where things are hottest."

Benegeat underlined that "the current situation is stable and there is no immediate risk" in Bosnia.

BOSNIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER SVEN ALKALAJ MET WITH HIS MALAYSIAN COUNTERPART SYED HAMID

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (November 16,2007) - The Bosnian Foreign Affairs Minister Sven Alkalaj met yesterday with his Malaysian counterpart Syed Hamid.Alkalaj is on a three-day visit to Malaysia since Tuesday.

The Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid said that he and Alkalaj had very fruitful discussions and that both Malaysia and Bosnia can learn a lot from each other,especially in areas of defence and technology.

The Malaysian Foreign Minister said that the Bosnian Foreign Minister has also been looking at development modules in Malaysia suitable for application in Bosnia because Malaysia is very similar to Bosnia with its multi-ethnic,cultural and religious society.

BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY MEMBER HARIS SILAJDZIC MET WITH CHAIRMAN OF EU COUNCIL OF MINISTERS LUIS AMADO

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (November 16,2007) - Bosnian Presidency Member Dr Haris Silajdžić met in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo with Luis Amado, the Foreign Minister of Portugal and the Chairman of the EU Council of Ministers.

Minister Amado expressed full determination of Portugal and the European Union for integration of the entire region into the European Union, and he expressed his hopes that the Stabilization and Association Agreement between Bosnia and the European Union would soon be signed.

Dr Silajdžić thanked Minister Amado for his support and pointed out that Bosnia, regardless of the current focus on creating a new government, will continue its efforts toward joining the European Union.

BOSNIAN PARLIAMENT : TIHIC TAKES OVER AS HOUSE OF PEOPLES SPEAKER

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (November 16,2007) – The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) President Sulejman Tihic officially became the new House of People’s Speaker.Former Speaker Ilija Filipovic stated at a press conference in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo that he could have done a lot more in the past eight months, but that the insufficient number of laws reflected the House of Peoples’ efficiency.

Filipovic said that in spite of all the problems in the past eight months there were some good moments. 37 laws were passed, 17 of which were imposed by the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia.

Filipovic now hopes that the House of People’s activities in the following period will improve and that Tihic will achieve better results in the following eight months.

Tihic announced that he will work in accordance with the Bosnian Constitution.He stated that he hoped neither of caucuses would trigger the vital national protection issue during his mandate. That would mean that a consensus of all the three constitutive peoples is achieved.

Tihic said that recent decisions of the International community's High Representative in Bosnia Miroslav Lajcak on the better functioning of the Bosnian state did not infringe the rights of the Serbians living in Bosnia.

SDP DELEGATES WALKED OUT OF BOSNIAN PARLIAMENT SESSION

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (November 16,2007) – The yesterday’s continuation of the joint session of the Bonsnian House of Representatives and House of Peoples started with the proposal by Social-Democratic Party (SDP) delegate Zlatko Lagumdzija that the session be interrupted until Bosnia's Prime Minister in resignation Nikola Spiric returns from an official trip abroad.

After a brief debate on Lagumdzija’s proposal both houses voted on whether to continue the session or not. The session resumed after the vote without the presence of SDP delegates who left the session immediately after tabling their proposal.

Lagumdzija said that it is pointless to continue the debate without Spiric’s presence and that SDP delegates will not take part in the debate.