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Bosnia Profile:

Population: 3,922,205 (July 2001 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 20.13% (male 405,713; female 383,850) 15-64 years: 70.78% (male 1,422,796; female 1,353,410) 65 years and over: 9.09% (male 150,802; female 205,634) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.38% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 12.86 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 7.99 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate: 8.91 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.73 male(s)/female total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 24.35 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 71.75 years male: 69.04 years female: 74.65 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.71 children born/woman (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.04% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: NA
HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 100 (1999 est.)
Nationality: Bosnian(s)
Ethnic groups: Bosniak 44%, Serb 31%,Croat 17%, Yugoslav 5.5%, other 2.5% (1991)
Religions: Muslim 40%, Orthodox 31%, Roman Catholic 15%, Protestant 4%, other 10%
Language: Bosnian
Literacy: definition: NA total population: NA% male: NA% female: NA%
GDP: purchasing power parity - $6.5 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 8% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,700 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 19% industry: 23% services: 58% (1996 est.)
Population below poverty line: NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8% (2000 est.)
Labor force: 1.026 million
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%
Unemployment rate: 35%-40% (1999 est.)
Budget: revenues: $1.9 billion expenditures: $2.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.)
Industries: steel, coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, manganese, bauxite, vehicle assembly, textiles, tobacco products, wooden furniture, tank and aircraft assembly, domestic appliances, oil refining
Industrial production growth rate: 10% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production: 2.585 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 38.68% hydro: 61.32% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption: 2.684 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports: 150 million kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products: wheat, corn, fruits, vegetables; livestock
Exports: $950 million (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Exports - commodities: NA
Exports - partners: Croatia, Switzerland, Italy, Germany
Imports: $2.45 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Imports - commodities: NA
Imports - partners: Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Italy
Debt - external: $3.4 billion (2000 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $1 billion (1999 est.)
Currency: Bosnian Mark (BAM)
Currency code: BAM
Exchange rates: Bosnian Mark per US dollar - 2.086 (January 2001), 2.124 (2000), 1.837 (1999), 1.760 (1998), 1.734 (1997), 0.015 (1996)
Fiscal year: calendar year

Bosnia (Bosnian: Bosna) is a country on the Balkan peninsula of Southern Europe with an area of 51,129 square kilometres (19,741 sq mi). The last official census in 1991 recorded 4.4 million people, which was prior to the 1992-1995 Serbian,Croatian and Montenegrin aggressions while an unofficial census in 1996 by UNHCR recorded a postwar population of 3.9 million. Its 2007 residential population is estimated at approximately 4 million.

Formerly one of the six federal units constituting the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Bosnia gained its independence in the 1990s. Bosnia can be described as a federal democratic republic that is transforming its economy into a market-oriented system, and it is a potential candidate for membership in the European Union and NATO.

The country is home to three ethnic "constituent peoples": Bosnians (Bosniaks),Croatians living in Bosnia (Croats) and Serbians living in Bosnia (Serbs).The country is politically decentralized and comprised of two governing entities with Brcko District as a de facto third entity.

Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the south, Bosnia is mostly landlocked, except for 26 kilometres of the Adriatic Sea coastline centered around the town of Ne(h)um. The interior of the country is mountainous in the center and south, hilly in the northwest, and flat in the northeast. The nation's capital and largest city is Sarajevo. Sarajevo was the host site of the 1984 Winter Olympic Games.

UNITED KINGDOM FULLY SUPPORTS BOSNIA'S BID TO EU MEMBERSHIP

LONDON, UK (December 5,2008) - The United Kingdom has reaffirmed its support to Bosnia'S aspirations to the membership of the European Union following the visit of Bosnian State Presidency member Dr.Haris Silajdzic to the UK.

Dr.Silajdzic met UK Minister for Europe, Caroline Flint in London yesterday to discuss developments in the political situation in Bosnia.

During the meeting Ms.Flint and Dr. Silajdzic discussed progress on key reforms, and the challenges Bosnia continues to face, according to a FCO announcement.

But Flint also expressed concerns at the lack of progress in key areas and urged politicians on all sides to uphold the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement and to engage constructively with each other in order to achieve further reform progress.

Bosnia signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU on June 16 this year which is one of the first steps in the process towards membership of the European Union.

This year’s Commission Progress Report released last month which examines Bosnia’s work on key pre‑accession reforms, states that Bosnia “has made limited progress in addressing political criteria in line with the EU Partnership.”

These political criteria include democracy and rule of law, public administration reform, reform of the judicial system and protection of human rights and minorities.

Dr Silajdzic endorsed the initiative of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of UK and Czech Republic, related to the engagement of the EU member countries in Bosnia. During his meeting with UK Minister for EU Caroline Flint, Dr Silajdzic stressed that it was particularly important to reinforce engagement of international community in the period ahead, when discussions about the new Bosnian Constitution will be intensified.
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CROATIAN COMPANY ACCUSED OF STEALING ELECTRIC POWER FROM BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 5,2008) - A delegate in the Bosnian State Parliament's House of People Slobodan Saraba requested from the Bosnian government yesterday to take urgent measures to stop Croatian power company HEP from "stealing further the electric power from the Trebisnjica hydro power station".

Saraba then concerted that the debt for "unlawfully taken" power amounts to 3.5 billion kilowatt-hours, and accused Croatia for incurring damages in excess of 200 million Bosnian Marks. He wants immediate action from the government to prevent this threat to Bosnia's power system.

In Jume 2008,Ante Colak, a member of the FBIH entity parliament, has also accused the Croatian power company HEP on more than one occasion of threatening the energy sovereignty of Bosnia, because of the fact that HEP is refusing to pay a concession fee of 20 million Bosnian Marks for using the water from the Busko Blato artificial lake (for its hydro power stations on the Cetina).

Colak claims that HEP earns around 55 million Bosnian Marks a year on the water from that reservoir, but pays only 1.6 million Bosnian Marks. He accuses the HDZBiH Party of conspiring with HEP, and refusing to raise the issue of an adequate fee.
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FOREIGN INVESTORS CALL FOR IMPROVEMENT OF BOSNIA'S INVESTMENT ENVIROMENT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 5,2008) - Foreign investors complained yesterday of long procedures and excess paperwork when registering a business or taking out building and work permits in Bosnia. They also named taxes as one of the areas that need to be reformed to improve Bosnia's investment environment, representatives of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) said.

The White Book 2008, presented yesterday in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo by the FIC, lists 25 obstacles and proposals to the government for improving conditions to foreign investors in Bosnia.

The FIC members greated changes made at local level, they warned of the urgent reform in three crucial areas mentioned. They are not satisfied with implementation of their proposals from last year’s issue of the White Book.
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BOSNIA JOINS ADRIATIC CHARTER GROUP

HELSINKI, Finland (December 5,2008) - The Bosnian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sven Alkalaj signed in Helsinki yesterday Bosnia’s membership in the Adriatic Charter Group, an association formed to aid the efforts of its members to join the NATO.

Foreign ministers of Macedonia, Croatia and Albania were also present at the ceremony, together with the US assistant secretary of state for Europe.

Minister Alkalaj thanked the representatives of the Adriatic Charter member countries for the partnership, and underlined its importance for Bosnia.

Alkalaj said Bosnia’s membership is poof that Bosnia’s progress has been recognized. Gratitude was also expressed to the United States for the guidelines in meeting conditions for a full membership in the NATO.

The Adriatic Charter is an association formed by Albania, Croatia and Macedonia for the purpose of aiding their efforts to join NATO.The Charter was signed in 2003 under the aegis of the United States.
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BOSNIA REMOVES TAX ON IPA FUNDS

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 5,2008) - The Bosnian State Parliament's House of People adopted yesterday amendments to the VAT Act that exempt the EU’s pre-accession funds (IPA) from the value added tax (VAT).

Cancelling VAT charges on these funds was a condition set by the European Commission (EC) for the implementation of 50 million Euros worth of projects from 2007.

The total sum of IPA funds for Bosnia is 440 million Euros by 2011. The EC Delegation to Bosnia welcomed the move.
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BOSNIAN PRIVATE SECTOR CONTINUES TO GROW

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 5,2008) - The latest study from the World Bank has confirmed the ongoing trend of growth in the Bosnian private sector, but it has also identified serious structural and operating limitations including problems with financial solvency, lacking availability of capital and an inadequate solution of the working status of one part of employees.

In the study assessing the investment climate in Bosnia, the problem of ineffective administration that creates business bottlenecks, and the lack of fast market mechanisms that would make troubled companies undergo restructuring or shut down are identified. The study was introduced today at a roundtable in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.
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BOSNIA MAKES PROGRESS TOWARDS NATO MEMBERSHIP

BRUSSELS, EU (December 4,2008) - Bosnia has made progress in the process of association with the NATO, but the Alliance is deeply concerned about the "irresponsible political rhetoric and actions" that are a threat to the country and its Euro-Atlantic ambitions, the foreign ministers of NATO member countries have agreed in Brussels after a two-day meeting.

NATO urges political leaders in Bosnia to assume a “more responsible approach” and speed up the implementation of recent agreements, such as the one about the distribution of military property.
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BOSNIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS TO VISIT BELARUS

MINSK, Belarus (December 4,2008) - An official parliamentary delegation of Bosnia led by Chairman of the Bosnian State Parliament's House of Representatives Niko Lozancic is to visit Belarus on December 7-10,the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus said.

The delegation is to meet with the Chairmen of the House of Representatives and the Council of Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, top officials of the Minsk City Council, the Foreign Ministry.

The members of the delegation are to visit several Belarusian enterprises, including Kristall distillery and Minsk Tractor Works.
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SWEDEN REJECTS PARDON REQUEST FROM SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL BILJANA PLAVSIC

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (December 4,2008) - Sweden’s Justice Ministry has denied a second pardon request from the convicted Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic, the former fascist leader of the Serbians living in Bosnia, to have her 11-year-jail sentence ended.

"The government has today rejected Biljana Plavsic's pardon request," it said in a brief statement.

A justice ministry spokeswoman said the government would not disclose the reasons for its decision.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague sentenced Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic, now 78, in February 2003 for crimes against humanity committed during the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Sweden agreed to house Plavsic in one of its prisons in response to a request from the tribunal. She was transferred in June 2003 and is an inmate at the Hinseberg women's prison.

Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic had requested an early release based on her advancing age, failing health and "poor prison conditions".

Swedish news agency TT said a recent psychiatric evaluation had shown that she was in poor health and that she has had a hard time adapting to life behind bars.

She is also significantly older than the other inmates "and has reportedly received threats," the agency said.

Given the gravity of her crimes, "any act of mercy would be big mistake and an insult to the victims and families of the victims," a member of the Bosnian Syaye Presidency Zeljko Komsic, said in a letter to the Swedish government.

"One should especially bear in mind that some 60,000 people of Bosnian origin now live in Sweden, most of whom were forced to leave their homeland because of (Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic's) engagement in the war," Komsic said.

Sweden's government denied Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic's first pardon request in April 2007.

Serbian fascist Biljana Plavsic was indicted and tried by The Hague Tribunal. In 2002, she plea bargained and was convicted to a shamefully low sentence of 11 years in jail for crimes against humanity.

As part of Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s plea deal, she laid the blame for the genocide committed against the Bosnian people during the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia on the late former Yugoslav president,Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic, and on former leaders of the Serbians living in Bosnia,Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
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ITALIAN GENERAL STEFANO CASTAGNOTTO TAKES COMMAND OF EUFOR

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 4,2008) - Italy's Major General Stefano Castagnotto took today command of the European Union's peacekeeping force in Bosnia (EUFOR) .

"I am reaffirming today the dedication of EUFOR to do our best in assisting the citizens of Bosnia in their journey toward a brighter future," Castagnotto said during a handover ceremony in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

He replaced Ignacio Martin Villalain of Spain.

EUFOR took over from NATO-led peacekeepers in 2004 and carries out military tasks under the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia.

The EU launched its Althea peacekeeping mission in Bosnia with a military force of 7,000 in 2004 to oversee the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords.

It currently has 2,125 troops from 26 countries, of which 21 are members of the European bloc. Spain provides the largest contingent with 376 soldiers, followed by Italy which has 248. Turkey has 242 soldiers while Poland has contributed 204.
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BOSNIA TRIPLES STATE GUARANTIES FOR BANK DEPOSITS

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 4,2008) - The Bosnian State Parliament adopted a law today that will almost triple the state's current guarantee for bank deposits to 10,256 Euros.

The measure was designed to recover public trust in domestic banks, Bosnian officials said.

The Bosnian Central Bank proposed in October an increase in state guarantees for deposits of up to 7,700 Euros, but the government has since decided to raise the figure.

The bank has undertaken a series of measures to avert panic among citizens, many of whom lost their bank savings during the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia. At least 200 million Euros in deposits has never been returned to the public.

Amid the global financial crisis, some of Bosnia's biggest commercial banks were hit in October by an unusual increase of euro cash withdrawals.

But the situation appears to have calmed since.According to the International Monetary Fund, Bosnia is likely to be spared the worst of the global crisis because of the country's stable financial system.

The Bosnian economy is still recovering from the devastating war, with almost a third of the workforce unemployed and the average monthly wage at about 400 Euros.
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BOSNIA TO SIGN THE CONVENTION ON BAN OF CLUSTER AMMUNITION

OSLO, Norway (December 3,2008) - The Bosnian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sven Alkalaj shall lead Bosnian delegation for the signing ceremony of the Convention for Ban of Cluster Ammunition which is to be held in Oslo, Norway, today.

Bosnia with this document obliges itself for a full ban of production, transport, use and storage of cluster ammunition.
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SKELETAL REMAINS OF 1000 GENOCIDE VICTIMS UNEARTHED IN EASTERN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 3,2008) - Bosnian forensic experts said yesterday they have unearthed about 1,000 skeletal remains of genocide victims in a mass grave in the eastern Bosnian village of Kamenica.

Documents recovered from the grave in this village dubbed "Death Valley" showed the victims were from Srebrenica, Bosnian forensic experts said.

The genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor overran the then U.N.-protected eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia, mass murdering some 10,000 Bosnian civilians in Europe’s single worst atrocity since World War II.

The genocide victims were initially buried in a dozen mass graves. But after the release of satellite pictures showing large portions of freshly disturbed ground, the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor moved them to other locations in order to cover up the crimes.

The body parts of the genocide victims were separated during reburial using bulldozers, and forensic experts have sometimes found parts of a single person buried in three different so-called secondary graves.

"Almost 90 percent of all remains had traces of bullet shots and some victims were blindfolded with rope-tied hands," said Vedo Tuco, standing on the edge of a muddy grave where white-clad forensic pathologists marked and cleaned up bones.

Experts had hoped to complete the exhumations Wednesday but say the work which started two months ago will finish next week.

Tuco said some of the remains were of 14-to-15-year-old boys. The genocide victims were mass murdered at three locations near Srebrenica and transferred to the village of Kamenica from the original graves three months after the execution, he added.

"There is a complete chaos in this mass grave. Some of the remains that we found here will probably be re-associated with the bodies that we had exhumed from other mass graves discovered in this village," Tuco said.

There are 12 mass graves in a strip of land about 7-km (four miles) long, located beside the sole road in this remote and almost deserted village, mainly on Muslim land. Mass graves unearthed earlier yielded around 3,000 body parts of the genocide victims.

"They probably thought that nobody would ever return here and discover the crime," Tuco said. He said another mass grave has been located in the village but digging will likely start in the spring because of bad winter weather.

About 5,800 genocide victims from this part of Bosnia have been identified through DNA analysis but they can be reburied only after 70 percent of the bodily remains have been identified.

"The identification of the bodies we found here will probably take a long time because they are so dismembered and in bad shape," Tuco said.
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BOSNIAN STATE PROSECUTOR INDICTS SERBIAN WAR CRIMINALS JOVO JANDRIC AND SLOBODAN PEKEZ

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 3,2008) - The Bosnian State Prosecutor has indicted two former members of the genocidal paramilitary fascist formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS) Serbian war criminals Jovo Jandric, 54, and Slobodan Pekez, 51, for murdering and wounding dozens of Bosnian civilians during the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

"The accused are suspected of taking part in the killings and intentional infliction of physical and psychological pain, physical injuries, and robbery," the Bosnian State Prosecutor's Office said in a statement. "They are suspected of committing war crimes against the civilian population."

Two Serbian war criminals are accused of illegally forcing the Bosnian population out of their homes in a village near the Bosnian town of Jajce in September 1992, detaining Bosnian men, women, and children and taking valuables.

"Then they took them to the place...where they ordered them to get in line by the edge of an abyss...and fired bursts at them from machine guns," the statement said.

Along with other members of the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's forces, the two Serbian war criminals murdered 23 Bosnian civilians and wounded several more, the statement added.
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SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL RATKO MLADIC CAN FACE TRIAL EVEN AFTER 2011

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 3,2008) - Former commander of the genocidal paramilitary fascist formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia,Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic could face trial at the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal even after 2011, when the tribunal is scheduled to close, UN judge Fausto Pocar said yesterday.

Addressing a conference on war crimes trials in Belgrade, Pocar said that 2011 did not have to mark the end of the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

"The UN Security Council can extend the mandate of the court and I believe that they will do so," said Pocar, who was president of the ICTY until last month.

Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic has been charged by the ICTY with genocide, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts, and other crimes against Bosnian civilians,committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The ICTY was set up by the UN Security Council in 1993 as a temporary court designed to deal with the atrocities of the Balkan wars.The tribunal is expected to shut down in the next few years.
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IBISEVIC PLEDGES FUTURE TO HOFFENHEIM

HOFFENHEIM, Germany (December 3,2008) - TSG 1899 Hoffenheim hitman Vedad Ibisevic insists he will stay with the club next season.The 24-year-old has scored 17 goals in 15 games to fire the Bundesliga new team to the top of the table.

That form has reportedly attracted the interest of some of Europe's top clubs, including Bayern Munich and Manchester United, but the Bosnia international claims he will not be moving in the summer.

"The enquiries from other clubs make me a bit proud," Ibisevic, whose contract runs until 2010, told the Bild newspaper.

"But I will definitively stay with Hoffenheim next season," Ibisevic said.
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NATO TROOPS RAID HOME OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL RADOVAN KARADZIC'S WIFE

PALE, Bosnia (December 2,2008) - NATO troops searched home of former leader and creator of the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "RS" and one of the masterminds of the genocide against the Bosnian people,Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's wife today for evidence of contacts to the network that has helped former commander of the genocidal paramilitary fascist formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS),Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic evade arrest.

NATO spokesman Derek Chappell said family members were questioned at their home in Pale, near the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. Soldiers were seen carrying out suitcases and boxes from the house. Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's wife and daughter were among those at home.

Former fascist leader of the Serbians living in Bosnia Radovan Karadzic has been in the custody of the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague since July.

"Even though Radovan Karadzic is at The Hague awaiting trial, we believe there are connections between the organized support networks of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic," Chappell said.

"The purpose of (the) operation is to search for information, evidence about this connection," he said, adding that the investigators were "pleased with the result."

The house of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's wife was frequently raided over the course of a decade while Serbian fascist was still hiding from justice. It was believed that a support network that included his family financed and facilitated his years of hiding. He was finally arrested in Belgrade, where he lived under a false identity and practiced "alternative medicine".

Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic (who is originally from Montenegro) was arrested in July this year after 13 years of hiding from justice. The Prosecution at The Hague considers him guilty of genocide, expulsions, deportation, and inhumane acts against Bosnian civilians committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The U.N. tribunal believes Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic is hiding somewhere in the genocidal Serbia.


In this video image NATO peacekeepers in Bosnia secure the area outside the home of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's wife Ljiljana during a raid and interview with his family members over suspected links with war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic.Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic have been charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with genocide, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts, and other crimes against Bosnian civilians,committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.


In this video image NATO peacekeepers in Bosnia, secure the area outside the home of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's wife Ljiljana, right on doorstep, during a raid and interview with family members over suspected links with war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic, in Pale, some 20 kilometers east of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008.Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic have been charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with genocide, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts, and other crimes against Bosnian civilians,committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.
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NO HIV-RELATED DEATHS IN BOSNIA IN 2008

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 2,2008) - There were no death cases in Bosnia from AIDS in 2008. 156 Bosnian citizens infected with HIV have been registered so far of whom 98 have AIDS.

This was said yesterday at the press-conference of the FBIH Entity Ministry of Health in Sarajevo on the occasion of December 1st, World AIDS Day.

Heterosexual way of transmitting HIV is still dominant in Bosnia. The high percentage of persons with risk behaviour such as drugs consumers and promiscuous people is troublesome.

More than 42.000 students were included in education on HIV prevention in the FBIH entity during this year, and around 90.000 young people were involved into preventive activities.

According to the last year’s data, 33 million people are infected with HIV in the world, out of which 30, 8 million adults and around 2 million children.

There were 2, 7 million newly infected people in the world during the last year, out of which 370.000 children, 2 million people died of AIDS, out of which 270.000 children.
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TRIAL OF FLORENCE HARTMANN TO START ON FEBRUARY 5,2009

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands (December 2,2008) - Under a decision made by judge Carmel Aguis, Chamber Chairman of the Tribunal at The Hague, the trial of Florence Hartmann, former spokeswoman of the Hague Prosecution, is due to start on February 5, 2009.

The trial will start with "a pre-trial conference" and the presentation of introductory arguments.

In August 2008 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, charged Hartmann with contempt of Court, because she disclosed allegedly confidential data pertaining to the Appellate Chamber's decisions in the case of Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic, in her book "Peace and Punishment", published in 2007, and an article on "Hidden Key Documents on Genocide" of 2008.

Hartmann has rejected the charges, arguing that she has not revealed confidential information, but only information she had gathered through her work as a journalist, and that her indictment represents a blow by the Office of the Prosecutor against free speech and transparency. She has pledged to fight the charges.

Hartmann is the first person without roots in the former Yugoslavia, and the first former ICTY official to be indicted by the Tribunal. As she points out, her book was published a year ago, making the delay in the issuing of her indictment peculiar. The charges refer to a case that is no longer actual, and cannot be motivated by any desire to ensure the proper functioning of the proceedings.

The indictment appears, indeed, to be an attempt to muzzle a whistleblower who has revealed information about the internal politics and incompetence within the Tribunal, and a warning to other former Tribunal officials who might be tempted to reveal more such information.

The ICTY is a highly flawed institution with a very patchy record; badly organised, filled with many incompetent apparatchiks alongside some committed professionals, riven with internal factionalism and corrupted by political pressures both external and self-induced, it has failed to deliver justice to the peoples of the former Yugoslavia.

The biggest criticism of it has been its failure to indict most of the principal Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian war-criminals, a failure that, on the basis of my eyewitness experience, is attributed in large part to the poor strategy of del Ponte as Chief Prosecutor.

But a perhaps even more shameful failing on the Tribunal’s part was the one about which Florence writes: the decision of the judges in the Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic case to allow the genocidal Serbia, when submitting to the Tribunal the minutes of the ‘Supreme Defence Council’ of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, to censor parts of it in the version that was made public.

As Florence argues, it was thanks to the Tribunal’s collusion with Serbia in the suppression of this crucial piece of evidence, that Bosnia was not able to draw upon the latter in its case against Serbia for genocide at the International Court of Justice, leading to Serbia’s unjustified acquittal.

Far from punishing the perpetrators of genocide in Bosnia, the Tribunal has helped to shield them.To date, only one individual, a lowly deputy corps commander of the genocidal paramilitary formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS), has been successfully prosecuted for a genocide-related offence by the ICTY, while not a single official from genocidal Serbia has yet been convicted of any war-crime in Bosnia whatsoever).

The Tribunal may or may not have a legal case against Hartmann. What is certain, however, is that Hartmann was acting in the public interest in revealing the information she did. The people of the former Yugoslavia have a right to know why they have not received much in the way of justice from the ICTY, while the citizens of the world have a right to know why this UN court, funded by their taxes, has produced such poor results. Public interest would best be served if more former Tribunal officials showed as much principle and courage as Florence, and came forward with more insider information so that we can better understand this whole, sorry story. This would help to ensure that other international courts could avoid the ICTY’s mistakes.

Florence Hartmann is a brave, principled and committed individual who has done more than anyone to reveal the extent to which the international community and the international courts have betrayed the cause of justice for Bosnia, and her accusations of Western complicity in Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic’s evasion of arrest for thirteen years have been essentially vindicated.

Earlier this year, former Hague Tribunal insider has added her comments to claims that former leader and creator of the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "RS" and one of the masterminds of the genocide against the Bosnian people,Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadžić enjoyed support from Britain,the United States,Russia and France.Hartmann told the Belgrade daily Blic that the UN war crimes court's prosecution on several occasions gave the U.S. exact locations where Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic was hiding. But, Hartmann says, "they did nothing".

"Information about the fugitives' whereabouts was abundant, however, it would always turn out that one of the three countries – the U.S., Britain or France – would block arrests," she said.

Also,according to Hartmann,Great Britain, USA and France purposefully left free former leader of the genocidal paramilitary fascist formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS),Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic who is also wanted for genocide committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

In March 2000, Hartmann says, the ICTY chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte asked Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, whether the U.S. had a secret agreement with Serbian war criminal Karadzic. Clark in turn accused the French president Chirac of cutting a pact with (Serbian war criminals) Karadzic and Mladic to win the release of two French pilots held by the genocidal Serbian fascist formations for three months in 1995.

During the course of her appearance at the Court, on November 14, Hartmann refused to enter her plea so the Court recorded that "the indictee pleaded not guilty to both counts contained in the indictment".

As per the Tribunal's decision, the Prosecution and Defence are due to submit, to the Chamber, "their lists of witnesses", who will testify at the trial, as well as subjects on which they will speak, indicating also to which counts their statements would refer.

Both parties announced earlier that they would need "a day or a day and a half" for the presentation of evidence, including statements by witnesses and introduction of material evidence.
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