SILAJDZIC CONDEMNS MURDER OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN BENAZIR BHUTTO

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 29,2007) – Bosnian Presidency member Dr Haris Silajdzic condemned murder of Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan. In the assassination attack another 20 people were killed.He announced that the murder is an attack against democracy and all other human values, not only in Pakistan, but in the rest of the world as well.

Dr Silajdzic stated that Benazir Bhutto was one of the biggest and most truthful friends of Bosnia. She lead the Pakistani government during the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia. Her personal engagement resulted in a wide aid action for the Bosnian defenders, in political, economic, humanitarian and military level.

”Benazir Bhutto will forever remain deep at the hearts of all Bosnian patriots. She visited the sourrounded Sarajevo in 1994, together with the former Prime Minister of Turkey Tansu Ciller.

I hereby use the opportunity to express condolences to the Bhutto family and the government and people of Pakistan, as well as to all the followers of democracy around the world. Pakistan, as well as the rest of the world, lost a person who dedicated her whole life to promotion of human rights and democratic values”, Bosnian Presidency member Haris Silajdzic’s announcement states.

OHR WELCOMED TIMELY APPROVAL OF MOSTAR CITY BUDGET

MOSTAR, Bosnia (December 29,2007) – The Office of the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia (OHR) commended the Mostar City Council and Mostar City Administration for yesterday's timely adoption of the 2008 Mostar City budget.

"Since the unification process began in 2004, in each succeeding year the budgeting process has been delayed for several months by political disputes and rivalries, even requiring the intervention of the High Representative in 2005 and 2006," OHR said.

"The timely adoption of next year's budget shows not only the maturity of the political parties in Mostar, but also the success of the unification process itself in overcoming many of the longstanding disputes.We encourage the authorities to continue to work in such an effective manner, to the benefit of all the citizens of Mostar," OHR stated in a press release yesterday.

BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY TO DISCUSS DRAFT BUDGET FOR 2008 IN JANUARY

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 29,2007) – The Bosnian Presidency did not discuss at the session on Thursday Bill on the Bosnian State Institutions’ Budget for 2008.

”Keeping in mind that the budget of the Bosnian State Institutions was in the hands of the Bosnian Council of Ministers for almost two months and that the document was submitted to the Bosnian Presidency only last week, we agreed that the Budget Draft for 2008 will be the first issue on the agenda of January 10 session of the Bosnian Presidency”, the Bosnian President Zeljko Komsic stated at a press conference.

President Komsic added that there are opposing attitudes of members of the Bosnian Presidency related to budget.

”The issue is primarily related to the amount of money concerned. Radmanovic’s objection is that the proposal is not realistic, but we will see what will happen with the budget at the following session”, Komsic said.

KEBO: 60 KILOMETRES OF ZENICA-MOSTAR HIGHWAY WILL BE COMPLETED IN 2008

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 29,2007) – The FBIH Entity Vice President Mirsad Kebo is of the opinion that 60 kilometres of the Zenica-Mostar highway will be completed in 2008.

“60 kilometres of the Zenica–Mostar highway need to be completed in 2008. contracts have already been signed. 50 million Bosnian Marks is the amount of incomes from the payments made on the field. The money will be used to repay loans and for other activities that are important for enabling the function of economic infrastructure and other systems – economic, trade and tourist”, Kebo said. .

As far as the year of 2007 is concerned,Kebo is of the opinion that it was the year in which realization of the FBIH entity government’s priority projects suffered.

Kebo emphasized that privatization projects are in the process of intensive preparations, and added that privatization should be made transparent, public and monitored.

About 4 billion Bosnian Marks is ensured for the privatization processes and the money will mostly be used for final solving of the issue of construction of the V – C Corridor, highway construction and construction of fast roads

FBIH ENTITY ADOPTED 2008 BUDGET

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 29,2007) - The lower house of the FBIH Entity Parliament approved yesterday a 2008 budget of 1.76 billion Bosnian Marks (1.32 billion US Dollars) amid protests by farmers and food producers.

The FBIH Entity Finance Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda said the budget was balanced and mostly social, with more than 700 million Bosnian Marks or 40 percent allocated for social categories, such as war veterans, invalids and civilian victims of war.

He said the budget for 2008 was increased 10 percent from this year and 53 percent from 2006, with most revenues or 1.2 billion Bosnian Marks expected to come from indirect taxes.

The FBIH Entity Parliament's upper house is expected to adopt the same budget today.

The farmers protested outside the parliament building at the government decision to allocate 53 million Bosnian Marks for agriculture, saying it would cover only half of their needs.

But this was the biggest budgetary support for the sector until now.
Some 170 million was allocated for wages in administration.

BOSNIAN STATE PROSECUTOR FILED CHARGES AGAINST SERBIAN WAR CRIMINALS NOVAK DJUKIC AND PREDRAG KUJUNDZIC

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 29,2007) - The Bosnian State Prosecutor charged two former leaders of the genocidal paramilitary formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS) with war crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The Bosnian State Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo filed charges yesterday against Serbian war criminal Novak Djukic for killing Bosnian civilians in the northern Bosnian town of Tuzla, which at the time was declared a U.N.-protected zone.

Under Djukic's order the genocidal Serbian aggressor bombarded Tuzla and a shell hit the town's center, killing 71 Bosnian civilians and injuring scores of others in May 1995, the charge said.

The Bosnian prosecutors also charged Serbian war criminal Predrag Kujundzic, former member of the genocidal paramilitary formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS) with committing war crimes against Bosnian civilians from spring 1992 to the fall 1993 during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Serbian war criminal Predrag Kujundzic was charged with taking part in killings, detention,sexual slavery, rape and persecution of Bosnian civilians.

BOSNIAN STATE PARLIAMENT REAPPOINTED SPIRIC AS PRIME MINISTER

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 29,2007) - The Bosnian State Parliament reappointed Nikola Spiric as prime minister yesterday, two months after he resigned to protest a proposed reform.

Spiric said he hopes to assemble a cabinet by the end of January.Spiric resigned in October in protest over wide-ranging reforms to voting practices in the Bosnian Government and Parliament that were proposed by the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia, Slovak diplomat Miroslav Lajcak.

The changes were designed to end tactics of blocking reforms in Bosnia by boycotting sessions - tactics that were used by the political representatives of the Serbians living in Bosnia.

The changes will allow the Bosnian authorities to submit motions to the Bosnian Parliament without any participation of the politicial representatives of the Serbians living in Bosnia who were constantly blocking Bosnia's progress towards European integration by opposing the strengthening of the functionality of the Bosnian state.

The Bosnian Presidency proposed Spiric on Thursday and the Bosnian Parliament reappointed him yesterday.