BosNet NEWS / Apr 10, 1996

From: Davor <dwagner@MAILBOX.SYR.EDU>

Bosnia-Herzegovina News Directory

CONTENTS

[01] Republic Assembly Convenes

The Bosnian Republic Assembly met in Sarajevo Monday afternoon to assess the implementation of the Dayton peace agreement.

The assembly is also expected to discuss a declaration on Bosnia's integrity proposed last week by Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic and Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic.

Also on the agenda will be a Government report on refugees and missing persons from Zepa and Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia overrun by Serb forces last summer, and a program of the Government's work for the February-December period.

The Government has prepared a number of monetary policy bills for the session.

[02] LBO -- Integrity Declaration For All Pro-Bosnia

A Bosnian opposition party, the Liberal Bosniak Organization (LBO), said Tuesday it had signed the declaration on an integral Bosnia "in a bid to bring together all forces in favor of Bosnia."

Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic and former Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic proposed the declaration last Tuesday, calling for the preservation of the country's integrity and multi-ethnic character.

"The declaration encompasses the aims that Bosnian Army soldiers have fought for, which the LBO has committed itself to from the very beginning of the war," Muhamed Filipovic, the party president, told a news briefing.

According to Filipovic, the LBO does not conceive the forthcoming elections in Bosnia as a "pure fight for power, but, above all, as an opportunity for realizing vital Bosnian interests."

"The main aims of the declaration are a permanent peace, easing the people's hunger, respect for the people's will, rights and freedoms, survival of Bosnia as an integral state, strengthening integration and weakening separatist forces.

"In order to make these aims real, we need to break barriers made by national separatists. These aims should be implemented all over the Bosnian territory, whether it is mainly populated by Serbs, Croats, or Bosniaks. That is the key which opens the doors of the future for Bosnia as an integral state," Filipovic said.

Filipovic, appointed Bosnia's ambassador to Great Britain in 1994, will leave the post to run for the elections.

[03] IFOR Will Provide Security For Recover Of Bodies

NATO led Implementation Force (IFOR) troops will provide security for Bosnian government officials to recover hundreds of human remains reportedly scattered across eastern Bosnia, AFP quoted an IFOR spokesman as saying Tuesday.

Speaking at a briefing in Pale, the Serb stronghold outside Sarajevo, IFOR spokesman Colonel Charles-Henri de Noirmont said that under the Dayton treaty, any of the former warring parties is entitled to go to collect bodies and human remains of people killed in territory controlled by the other side.

If a request were received "IFOR would provide a secure environment" for Bosnian government officials to recover the hundreds of bodies and remains left scattered in eastern Bosnia, de Noirmont said.

"I am not aware that they (the Bosnian government) have asked us to do so," AFP quoted another IFOR spokesman, Brigadier Andrew Cumming, as saying.

[04] Dinar Stabilizes After Recent Fall

The Bosnian currency rose Monday as one German mark sold for 115 dinars, while only two days ago it went for 180 dinars. The official exchange rate is 100 dinars for one mark. Sarajevo banks said the drop came out of political not economic reasons.

Following an agreement on the Bosnian Federation signed almost 10 days ago, shops refused to accept dinars since a recent decision made by the Ministry of Finance ordered that all taxes must be paid exclusively in German marks.

The banks are currently in a very difficult position. A bank official, who requested anonymity, told the Sarajevo daily Oslobodjenje he will take into consideration how fast and at what price he "can get rid of dinar resources" if the ministerial decision takes effect.

[05] Dinar Stabilizes After Recent Fall

A senior Bosnian envoy said on Monday that joint business ventures, and not just donations, were needed to rebuild Bosnia after the devastating civil war, Reuters reported.

"The reason I'm in Bahrain is because part of rebuilding Bosnia is not asking for donations, but also inviting business people to be a partner in business and reconstruction in this way," Muhamed Sacirbey, special adviser to Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, told Reuters.

"I think, ultimately, the greater success will be through private enterprises than through asking donations," said Sacirbey.

[06] $1.9 Million For Sarajevo Housing Reconstruction

After United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees approval, the UMCOR relief agency will procure basic construction materials worth $1.9 million for refurbishment of homes and apartments in reintegrated Sarajevo municipalities, the Sarajevo daily Oslobodjenje wrote Tuesday.

For the planned reconstruction of 2,252 housing units, a certain amount of building materials have already arrived, and another 25 trucks with roofing tiles, timber and cables will arrive Friday.

[07] World Photo Show Opens In Sarajevo

The World Photo Show with the 200 best photographs made in the world last year was Monday put up in the Obala Art Center in Sarajevo.

This year's competition gathered 2,997 photographers from 97 countries. An international jury selected 200 photographs between almost 30,000 submitted.

After the exhibition in Sarajevo, host to the most eminent world photographers for the third consecutive time, the show will be presented in 40 other countries.

[08] Bosnian Football Team To Take On Albania On Apr. 24

The Bosnian national football team will play a friendly with the Albanian selection in Zenica on April 24, said Mehmed Spaho of the Bosnian football association in charge of relations with international sport associations.

This will be the first Bosnian international friendly match since the beginning of the war.

[09] Croatian Position In Balkans Is Strategic; Commentary

Croatia has a strategic importance in the Balkans because of its geographic position, said a commentary in the Sarajevo daily Oslobodjenje on Tuesday.

"To control the largest part of the Balkans, but not fully control the Adriatic, Ionian, Aegean or Black Sea, or fully or partially lose control over them, means to have pronouncedly shaky and uncertain positions," Neven Kazazovic wrote. "In this case, the Adriatic is especially interesting for us, because wars have been waged in its immediate vicinity in the past five years, and even today there are latent crisis spots there (Kosovo, Macedonia). And also, very important, the Adriatic is a sea in which a rival power (Russia) can partially establish control.

"If events and relations are observed from this angle, one notes the significance of Croatia. Military significance. This is a country in which a war was waged, across whose territory rival access to the Adriatic was planned. It controls the Prevlaka (peninsula) in the south, almost the whole eastern Adriatic coast, and its northern border is the Danube, one of the most important European communication routes. The Danube, however, has some other meanings as well. It is a river from the Black Sea basin, so partial control of the Danube also influences relations on the west coast of the Black Sea.

"However, there is a route, along the Drina, which directly links the Adriatic Sea (the Prevlaka for instance) with the Danube. Therefore, the two eastern ends of the Croatian arch are exceptional positions, even from a strategic point of view. Therefore it is not unusual that the West maintains it is very important how Croatia will be treated in the establishment of a new military position in the Balkans. That is why it is conducting a special policy in this regard," Kazazovic said.