MIA FARROW AND GENOCIDE SURVIVORS FROM SREBRENICA CALL FOR PEACE IN DARFUR

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 8,2007) - American actress and UNICEF Ambassador Mia Farrow joined genocide survivors from the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica and activists at a torch-lighting ceremony in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo yesterday calling on Olympic host China to help end abuses in Darfur. Mia Farrow and Hatidza Mehmedovic, who lost her husband and two young sons in genocide in Srebrenica, lit a torch as a symbol of peace and solidarity with the victims in Sudan.

"We are passing this torch to call for an end to the ongoing crime of genocide in Darfur," Farrow told the crowd in Sarajevo.

"I have no words to describe what happened to the people of Bosnia. The international community failed you. My country failed you. The United Nations failed you. The world betrayed you," Farrow said yesterday.

In July 1995 the genocidal Serbian aggressor mass murdered 10,000 Bosnian civilians from the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica.

"You owe the world nothing but you understand the suffering, the pain our brothers and sisters are enduring as we speak," Mia Farrow added.

Farrow, along with the head of the New York-based Dream for Darfur advocacy group, Jill Savitt, called on China to use its influence and press the Sudanese government to end the atrocities in Darfur.

"We are calling upon China to end the suffering in Darfur by forcing Khartoum to allow a protection force in Sudan," she said

Critics say China's military aid to and oil purchases from Sudan give it influence it could use to push Khartoum to halt the violence in Darfur, where some 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in fighting since rebellion broke out in 2003.

The Sarajevo event was part of an Olympic-style torch relay, the "Olympic Dream for Darfur" campaign, led by Farrow and launched last August at the Chad-Darfur border to press for action by China, which hosts the Olympic Games next year.

The relay has already passed through genocide sites in Darfur, Rwanda, Armenia, Bosnia and Germany. Next month the torch will be lit in Cambodia and the last destination will be Hong Kong.

"China is the host of the 2008 Olympic games and China is also an accomplice in Darfur genocide," Farrow said."

BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY MEMBERS HELD A MEETING WITH EUFOR COMMANDER

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 8,2007) - The President of the Bosnian Presidency Željko Komšić and a member of the Bosnian Presidency Dr Haris Silajdžić held a meeting in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo with Brigadier General Ignacio Villalain, the newly appointed Commander of the European Union Force in Bosnia (EUFOR)

“Your success in the mission in our country is also a success of Bosnia. Your presence here is a help to Bosnia on its way to the European integration, the European Union and NATO”, said the Bosnian President Željko Komšić and added that the Bosnian state institutions would support EUFOR in successfully completing its mission, peacefully and safely.

“The defense domain is under the Bosnian Presidency’s jurisdiction, so you can count on our support as a chief commander of the Bosnian Army”, President Komšić emphasized.

“Today, we have a very important task – preserving the peace and the stability in Bosnia. EUFOR has a very important role in it”, said a member of the Bosnian Presidency Dr Haris Silajdžić.

According to Silajdžić, it is especially important to achieve a full cooperation between EUFOR and the Bosnian state institutions.

“The EUFOR mission is to maintain a secure and a stable environment. We are paying attention to all information because our goal is to have a successful mission”, said Brigadier General Ignacio Martin Villalain, the EUFOR Commander.

He underlined that one of his priorities is preserving the stability in Bosnia and that EUFOR would complete its mission.

BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY MEMBER HARIS SILAJDZIC MET WITH EU PARLIAMENT'S DELEGATION

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 8,2007) - A member of the Bosnian Presidency Dr Haris Silajdžić met with Struan Stevenson and Gunnar Hokmark, the members of the European Union Parliament. The topic of the conversation was the EU perspective of Bosnia, as well as the political situation in the region.

Dr Silajdžić assessed that initialing the Stabilization and Association Agreement between Bosnia and the European Union is of great significance for all Bosnian citizens.

Dr Silajdzic also added he expects the intensification of the reform path of Bosnia so that the country could achieve the candidate status as soon as possible, as well as the final and the full-fledged membership in the European Union.

The European Union Parliament Delegation’s members agreed that the integration of Bosnia in the European Union is the right way, as well as the integration of the entire Southeastern Europe. The EU Parliament's delegation also stated that the issue of solving the future status of Kosovo could not influence, in any way, Bosnia as a sovereign, united and indivisible state.

At the end, Dr Silajdžić welcomed the Greek initiative for accelerating the West Balkan’s integration process in the European Union and expressed a hope that the initiative would obtain a wider support from other members of the European Union.

BOSNIAN STATE SECURITY AGENCIES SUSPEND 14 OFFICERS

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 8,2007) - The chief of the Bosnian State Border Police Vinko Dumancic suspended his deputy and 12 officers yesterday on suspicion of involvement in various criminal activities. He had suspended deputy border police chief ,Vahid Alalgic,on "reasonable suspicion" of his involvement in war crimes, Dumancic said in statement.

Dumancic also suspended 12 border police officers, suspected of abusing their authority and criminal activities.The 12 were suspected of helping certain companies to import goods without paying custom and taxes in return for bribes.

The officers had been suspended from their offices until the investigation had been completed.

The Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) also confirmed it had suspended an officer on suspicion of involvement in war crimes.

SIPA said it had suspended Milenko Tepavcevic, a Serbian living in Bosnia, suspected of war crimes against Bosnian civilians during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.