PRESIDENT SILAJDZIC: BY SIGNING THE SAA WITH SERBIA, EU IGNORES THE VERDICT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (May 1,2008) – The Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic condemned the decision of the EU to sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the genocidal Serbia even though this fascist country still refuses to arrest those accused of war crimes and genocide committed in Bosnia during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

President Silajdzic stated that the Tuesday’s signing ceremony the EU once more ignored the verdict of the International Court of Justice which the genocidal Serbia flagrantly breeches by not arresting Serbian war criminals responsible for genocide in Bosnia.

"Bosnia respects the right of the EU of wanting to sign the SAA with some other country, including Serbia but it is extremely important to Bosnia to point out on the double standards considering that Serbia has been breeching its obligations towards our country for years”, stated President Silajdzic.

”Moreover, the EU privileged Serbia,the only country ever to be convicted of the Genocide Convention breech, at the same time leaving Bosnia on hold for “technical reasons”,President Silajdzic said.
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BOSNIA CONDEMNS EU FOR SIGNING PACT WITH GENOCIDAL SERBIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (May 1,2008) - Genocide survivors from the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica accused the European Union yesterday of failing to live up to its own principles by signing a pre-membership pact with the genocidal Serbia.

In July 1995 the genocidal Serbian aggressor mass murdered up to 10,000 Bosnian civilians from Srebrenica.The Srebrenica massacre has been deemed by the UN war crimes tribunal and the International Court of Justice to have constituted genocide. Thousands of bodies of the genocide victims have been uncovered from about 60 mass graves around Srebrenica.

The EU signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the genocidal Serbia on Tuesday despite Belgrade's failure to arrest war crimes fugitives such as Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic, indicted for genocide.

The pact, which will not be ratified until the genocidal Serbia delivers all Serbian war criminals to the U.N. war crimes tribunal, was meant to bolster pro-Western parties in the genocidal Serbia ahead of a knife-edge May 11 election that looks likely to be won by the Serbian fascists.

"If Europe can accept a Serbia which is hiding war criminals and continues with its wartime policies, such a Europe means nothing to us.We can hope for nothing regarding respect for human rights," said genocide survivor Kada Hotic, who lost her son, husband and two brothers at Srebrenica.

The EU's rushed "compromise" was bitterly condemned in Bosnia, with media reporting on "Yet another injustice towards Bosnia" and politicians condemning the bloc's "double standards".

The country is pursuing its own SAA, which the government had hoped to sign on Tuesday, but its signing was postponed due to "technical reasons". The Bosnian State Parliament last month passed reforms demanded by the EU, after arguing bitterly about them for almost five years.

"This shows Serbia enjoys privileges like no other state," said the bosnian President Haris Silajdzic, whose impassioned wartime appeals helped persuade the West to intervene and stop the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

"Some countries have been lagging behind in the European integration process on far less important grounds than the arrest of those responsible for the only genocide in Europe after World War Two," President Silajdzic said.

A member of the Bosnian State Presidency Zeljko Komsic said Brussels was conducting a "very, very bad policy" of keeping Bosnia hostage to Serbia's path.

"This once more shows the injustice towards Bosnia.EU bureaucracy is not led by standards but by pure politics and pure interest," Bosnian Presidency member Zeljko Komsic said.
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BOSNIAN ARMY PREPARES FOR A JOINT EXERCISE WITH NATO

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (May 1,2008) - The Bosnian Defence Minister Selmo Cikotic and the Commander of the Bosnian Army General Sifet Podzic met with the US Ambassador to Bosnia Charles English, to discuss a joint military exercise with the NATO.

Although Bosnia is not a NATO member, the military exercise will take place in the area of the northern Bosnian city of Banja Luka in September 2009.

Ambassadot English said that Operation Joint Endeavuor would be the first such exercise outside a NATO member country, under the patronage of the US European Command.

The Bosnian Defence Minister Selmo Cikotic also emphasized that the “Joint Effort” is the first exercise of such proportions which takes place in a country which is not a NATO member.

Cikotic said that the Bosnian Defence Ministry and the Bosnian Armed Forces see that as an sign of special trust, as well as an obligation to perform all the necessary preparations, so that the exercise gives the results expected in the sense of promotion of the Bosnian Armed Forces and the Bosnian Defence Ministry.

”That is also an opportunity”, he emphasized “to use the military exercise for the purpose of strengthening of cooperation with many partner countries’ armed forces and NATO member countries. That will also be an opportunity to fully place in function all the elements of the Bosnian Armed Forces, the Bosnian Defence Ministry and other structures,” Minister Cikotic said..

Cikotic told the press that the fact is that a lot has been done in the process of preparations for the exercise. That especially goes to the Support Command which will, operatively and tactically, carry out most of the activities in the process of preparations and in the very realization of the exercise.
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