BOSNIAN PRESIDENT SILAJDZIC MET WITH LIBYAN PRESIDENT GADDAFI

TRIPOLI, Libya (May 13,2008) – The Bosnian President Dr Haris Silajdžić is in an official visit to the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arabic Jamahiriya.fter arriving in the airport in the capital of Libya - Tripoli, President Silajdžić was welcomed with the highest Libyan state honors and an honorary guard.Directly departing from the airport for the meeting with Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, the President Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arabic Jamahiriya, the Bosnian President Haris Silajdžić received a special honor in the leader’s tent with maximum security measures, which is only shown to the great friends of Libya and the Libyan people.

During the conversation that lasted more than an hour, President Silajdžić thanked President Gaddafi for support that Libya and the Libyan people showed to Bosnia during and after the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia.

During the meeting, President Silajdžić informed the Libyan President about the political situation in Bosnia and the region and stressed out that Bosnia was making progress toward the European Union.

President Gaddafi said that the meeting was of extreme importance and added that it was a cornerstone for better cooperation between the two friendly countries. He emphasized that Libya supported Bosnia in its efforts to join the European Union and that it is a good thing for Bosnia to become a European Union member.

According to him, Libya was one of the founders of the Mediterranean Union and is now actively participating in the project, and he added that he expected support from Bosnia because Bosnia is also a Mediterranean country.

During the meeting, they talked about the possibilities for economic cooperation and potential investments of Libyan investors in Bosnia, as well as opening new jobs for the Bosnian companies in Libya.

Also, Dr El Baghdadi El-Mahmoudi, the Prime Minister of Libya met with the Bosnian delegation of businessmen. The main topic of the meeting was the economic cooperation between Bosnia and Libya.

A delegation of the Bosnian businessmen is accompanying the Bosnian President Haris Silajdžić, consisted of the directors of the following Bosnian companies: MIMS, Bosnalijek, Energoinvest, Promo Donji Vakuf, DITA Tuzla, Integral Inženjering, ENGO Bihać, Bosna ADS, Širbegović grupa, Giprom Tuzla, OKI Sarajevo, Tehnograd Company Tuzla.

The Bosnian State Presidency announced that President Silajdzic placed wreaths yesterday at the memorial of fallen fighters of the El-Hani Battle. He will also place wreaths to the grave of Ebu Minyar el-Quadafi.President Silajdzic also visited the Centre for Research of the Green Book and JAFARA – MIMS, the first Bosnian – Libyan investment in Libya.
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GERMANY URGES EU TO SIGN SAA WITH BOSNIA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

BERLIN, Germany (May 13,2008) – The German Federal Foreign Office Minister of State for Europe, Gunter Gloser stated yesterday in front of the German Parliament that Germany is supporting Bosnia and that it will do everything for the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between Bosnia and EU to be signed as soon as possible.

Gloser in this occasion did not exclude May 26 as the possible signing date.

"The fact that Germany supportS BOSNIA in signing the SAA with the EU is far more important than the date itself”, stated Zlatan Burzic, advisor at the Bosnian Foreign Ministry Cabinet.

Burzic added that Gloser expressed this point of view in a heated discussion at the end of last week in the German Parliament after the statement of the Bundestag member, Green Party delegate, Marieluise Beck.

Beck stated that the EU unjustly accommodates to Serbia which caused all the war in the in the 90s comparing to Bosnia where largest destruction and crimes were committed.

She also added that negotiations on visa regime liberalization with Serbia are ongoing for months now, while they have not even started with Bosnia,which is unacceptable.

Conclusion of her statement was that Bosnia must receive bigger support and more serious engagement of the EU.
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REGONSTRUCTION OF FERHADIJA MOSQUE MINARET BEGINS

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (May 13,2008) – Reconstruction of the minaret at the Mosque of Ferhat-Pasha Sokolović in the northern Bosnian city of Banja Luka will begin in the following few days.The Ferhadija Mosque was destroyed by the genocidal Serbian aggressor May 7 1993,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Mufti of Banja Luka Edhem Camdzic stated that reconstruction of the mosque is the best message of hope, peace and tolerance.

So far, out of 16 destroyed mosques in the Banja Luka area, nine have been fully reconstructed.

Ferhat-Pasha Mosque (Bosnian: Ferhat-Pašina Džamija) or more widely known as Ferhadija Mosque was a central building of the city of Banja Luka and one of the most successful achievements of the Islamic architecture of the 16th century Bosnia.

The mosque was built in 1579 in a classical Ottoman style by an unknown architect apprentice of Mimar Sinan. It was commissioned by the Bosnian Sanjak-Beg Ferhat-Pasha Sokolović. The Ferhadija mosque complex also included three small adjacent mausoleums carrying tombs of Ferhat-Pasha Sokolović, his granddaughter Safi-Kaduna and his ensign, a central fountain called Shaderwan, Stone and wrought iron fence with the small fountain on the corner, and an old graveyard in the back.

A later addition to the complex was a near-by clock tower Sahat-Kula. Built in a modest scale as it was common for structures of this type in Bosnia the mosque was 18 meters (59 ft) in width and 14 meters (46 ft) in length while the main dome was 18 meters (59 ft) high. The minaret was 43 m (141 ft) high.

Ferhadija was listed as a cultural heritage of Bosnia in 1950 and was subsequently protected by UNESCO until its destruction by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor in 1993. The site and the remains of the mosque today are listed as a Bosnian national monument.
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41 GENOCIDE VICTIMS REBURIED IN BRATUNAC

BRATUNAC, Bosnia (May 13,2008) — Thousands of mourners gathered yesterday in the eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac to rebury the remains of 41 Bosnian civilians slaughtered and swept into mass graves by the genocidal Serbian aggressor during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Among the bodies of genocide victims were nine children, four of whom were found alongside the bodies of their mothers.

After the bodies were exhumed from mass grave, the genocide victims' families helped identify them by examining clothing or personal items and by giving blood for DNA analysis.

The victims were among 800 Bosnian civilians detained when the genocidal Serbian aggressor attacked Bratunac in May 1992.

Some of the prisoners were freed in exchange for the genocidal Serbian aggressor's soldiers captured by the Bosnian Army.But most disappeared. Of the 603 presumed to have been murdered, 120 have since been found in mass graves.

The oldest genocide victim reburied yesterday was 86. The youngest, Nedzada Ibrahimovic, was 18 months. She was found lying next to her mother and another child, believed to be her eight-month-old sister Mirzeta, who was still holding her bottle. Identification has not been completed on the younger child.

Nedzada's uncle, Mujo Muharemovic, 45, said almost his entire family was wiped out in 1992 and that he knows that a Serbian still living in Bosnia did it.

"The perpetrators are still walking around Bratunac," he said.

Many relatives say they won't be able to come to terms with the deaths until they have a body to bury.

Emina Civic, 27, came to bury her father after waiting 14 years for him to be found and identified.

"The last time I saw him, he stood at the door and told me he'd be back. Well, now he is back and that chapter is closed. I may be able to forgive, but I cannot forget," she said.

A member of the Bosnian State Presidency Zeljko Komsic stated that Bosnia cannot seize to be the country of mass graves and war criminals still out free.

"Not only in Bosnia but they are all around the region hiding. Here we are burying 41 victims of war crimes and 41 families will finally have the resting place of the dearest. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who are far finding their own”, stated Komsic.

Fata Orlovic from Konjevic Polje who is struggling for years to relocate an illegally built Orthodox Christian Church from her yard stated for the press:

"How do I feel? How should I feel? Horrible! Look how many mothers came today. My 22 nephews are gone. I buried my husband, so how should I feel?!”, she stated after the funeral.
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BOSNIAN STATE COURT REQUESTS SANCTIONS FOR CONVICTED SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL RADOSLAV KRSTIC

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (May 13,2008) - The Bosnian State Court asked the British authorities yesterday to sanction the convicted Serbian war criminal Radislav Krstic for refusing to testify in a case presently before the court.

Serbian war criminal Radoslav Krstic was convicted of war crimes and is serving his sentence in a British prison.The type of sanction imposed is at the discretion of the country in which a prisoner is serving a sentence.

Serbian war criminal Radoslav Krstic, 60, was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment by The Hague- based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes committed against Bosnian civilians during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

He was supposed to testify via video-link in the case of Serbian war criminal Milos Stupar and a group of Serbian war criminals charged with war crimes against Bosnian civilians in Srebrenica in July 1995.

Under Bosnia's legislation, the court said: "The persons who are summoned to testify in the proceedings conducted before the Court of Bosnia must attend to the court summons."

Last month, the Bosnian State Court demanded similar measures from the Norwegian authorities for another two convicted Serbian war criminals, who also refused to testify in the same case.
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ENGLISH: BOSNIA ONLY HALFWAY TO EU

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (May 13,2008) - The U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia Charles English says that Bosnia is only halfway to EU membership, and that a lot of political compromise is still required.

“If Bosnia wants to have a real chance of joining NATO or the EU, its political leaders have to do a lot more. They can’t fritter away three years on bitter debates over every reform or waste their energy on narrow ethnic interests,“ Ambassador English said.
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