LOCAL PRESS

Vucic has no time to discuss Kosovo platform with Nikolic (Danas)

The meeting between Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic on the announced platform for the final solution of the Kosovo issue is under a question mark. Danas learns from sources close to the Serbian government that, due to obligations and upcoming visits, it is not certain whether the Prime Minister will have time to hear out the solution, prepared by Tomislav Nikolic away from the public eye, before the resumption of the dialogue on 9 February. “The Prime Minister will have a total of four official visits to other states before 9 February,” a source close to the Serbian government told Danas. For the time being, Nikolic discussed the Kosovo platform only with Serbian Patriarch Irinej. Opposition representatives opine that it would be good for President Nikolic to invite them for consultations about the Kosovo platform. The Democratic Party (DS) caucus whip and former negotiator with Pristina Borislav Stefanovic tells Danas that he believes that President Nikolic will invite them for consultations since this would be “a civilized thing to do and in democratic spirit”. “This has been done in the past when some resolutions were passed, so I believe it will be the case this time too. If he wants, Nikolic will send us an invitation, and we will respond,” stresses Stefanovic. On the other side, the Social-Democratic Party (SDS) member and former minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanovic is not so optimistic. He tells Danas that it would be good for the President to invite the opposition for talks on Kosovo, but that, having in mind how the government treats and denigrates the opposition, he doubts this will happen. “It would be good for them to invite us, especially us who dealt with Kosovo and who could have proposals that would be in the interest of the state,” notes Bogdanovic.

Dacic: Serbia thankful for principled stand of African Union on non-recognizing Kosovo (RTS)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, who is partaking in the session of the African Union Executive Council in Addis Ababa, has talked to the Chairperson of the African Union Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma about improving the cooperation of Serbia and the Union, especially in the economic domain. Dacic has thanked for the principled stance of the African Union with regards to the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo. The historical friendly relations between Serbia and African countries have been underlined during the meeting.

Minister Dacic met with Indian Deputy Foreign Minister Navtej Sarno and the two assessed that the good bilateral political relations should be improved through the strengthening of economic, cultural and tourist cooperation. Dacic thanked India on its principled stand on the Kosovo issue. He also met with South African Foreign Minister Emily Nkoana-Masabane, who said that, even at the most difficult times, Serbia had remained a true friend of African countries. She reiterated the principled stand of South Africa not to recognize independence of Kosovo. Dacic also met with Kenyan Foreign Minister Aminom Mohamed and expressed gratitude for Kenya’s position not to recognize independence of Kosovo.

Serbia will not react to the request for Minister Jablanovic’s dismissal (Danas)

Serbia will not react to the request of the Kosovo opposition for the dismissal for the Minister for Return and Communities Aleksandar Jablanovic, because the Serb (Srpska) List didn’t have talks with the opposition Self-Determination Movement, but with the parties in the government, it is the stand of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija regarding Jablanovic’s dismissal. The Office for Kosovo and Metohija tells Danas that “it is clear that when the political situation in Pristina is at issue it is not about Jablanovic, but about internal political dynamics among Albanian parties”.

OSCE condemns use of heavy weapons in civilian areas (Tanjug)

The OSCE Permanent Council held a special meeting on Monday concerning the deterioration of the situation in eastern Ukraine, especially the clashes in the civilian parts of Mariupol, and Serbia condemned the use of heavy weaponry. Serbia, as the OSCE chair, condemned the use of heavy weaponry in civilian areas and called for an immediate stop to hostilities on the ground.
Serbia reiterated its strong support for the work of the Trilateral Contact Group and the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. The council expressed condolences to the families of the victims. Head of the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Ertugul Apakan and special representative of the OSCE chairperson Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini informed the members of the council about the situation on the ground. They expressed deep concern over the escalation of violence in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk and its spreading to other cities. They stressed the need to bring all sides back to the negotiating table in order to a sustainable peace and implement all the provisions of the Minsk agreement.

REGIONAL PRESS

Covic: I expect government formation at FB&H level by week’s end (Oslobodjenje)

Dragan Covic, president of the HDZ B&H, said in Mostar that enough time has been wasted and that by the end of the coming week a government should be established at the Federation and B&H state levels. Covic told reporters this after a session of the HDZ B&H Presidency, saying that it is exceptionally important to the HDZ that a Federation government forms immediately, in order for the new infrastructure of the executive government to work in accordance with the electoral results. He expressed the expectation that the question of establishing the FB&H government will be resolved by the end of this week, saying that he hopes the Serb caucus will appoint its candidate for vice president of the Federation by the end of the week. “This job must be resolved in one way or another, and we must this week have an agreement on this issue, however it is,” said Covic. He announced a session of the House of Peoples of the Federation, which will be held on Friday, 30 January, at which there will be discussion on the decision on temporary financing. When it comes to the issue of forming cantonal governments, Covic said he expects the job will be completed in the coming two weeks. However, as he said, if everything is concluded at the Federation level this week, then all activities will go at an accelerated pace. “The cantons, therefore, are here only due to the conditional waiting for a schedule of departments that we haven’t yet mutually agreed on a high level,” said Covic. Covic announced that the electoral board of the HDZ B&H would convene at the end of April, while a session of the Croatian National Sabor would be held on 28 February.

The SDP would support the DF candidate and unlock the government forming? (Nezavisne)

The SDP, which is in opposition and holds the complete process of determining the capacity of the FB&H Parliament’s House of Peoples, is in the wake of finding a compromising solution that would unblock the establishment of the government in this entity, writes Nezavisne. Although the meeting of the SDP’s highest authorities has not yet been held, so there is no final decision on how the party is going to position itself in regard to the current situation, the chances are that the new leadership of the SDP, at the next session of the House of Peoples could demonstrate their democratic capacity. The source close to the party stated to Nezavisne that by giving signatures of their five delegates, SDP could still support Slobodan Soja, DF candidate for Vice President of FB&H from among the Serbs. Soja, however, would not receive the support of the SDP during the vote, but this would be a way to unblock the process of establishing the authorities in the Federation. “If the DF requests from us, and so far it hasn’t officially done it, we would probably give signatures, but without a vote support to Soja. Therefore, we would not vote for him because we are not a part of the new coalition, but in this case he would most certainly have the majority to pass. By doing this the SDP is planning to end this process,” said the source. Sifet Podzic, Secretary General of the DF, however, is not overly optimistic. “I am not even sure what will happen because things have gone too far.” “They started to play big political games. Now you have a second group of three delegates of SNSD who in collaboration with Radeljas (BOSS) intend to nominate its candidate for Vice President of the FB&H from among the Serbs.” However, the DF will try once again to test the mood within the coalition, but primarily the commitment of ideologically close SDP, in which the leader of the DF Zeljko Komsic has for long been one of the key political figures.

Ukraine’s ambassador to B&H: Call to ban arms exports to Ukraine doesn’t hold water (Srna/Oslobodjenje)

Oleksandar Levchenko, Ukraine’s Ambassador to B&H believes that calls to ban the import of weapons “to regions in which armed conflicts are ongoing” do not hold water, and that B&H would export weapons not to the Donbas region, where conflict is underway, but to the state of Ukraine. “Ukraine, as opposed to Russia, is not under international sanctions, and anyone who wishes to do business with it can do so freely,” said Levchenko in a statement, reacting to a statement by Petr Ivantsov, Russia’s Ambassador to B&H, that the resignation of Boris Tucic, B&H’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, was a moral act. Levchenko said that any export of weapons has at least three aspects – the legal and political, the moral, and the financial, but that Ivantsov circumvents the last one – to the tune of €5 million for B&H’s budget. He believes that from a moral standpoint, Ivantsov’s statements appear “especially cynical”, recalling the suffering of people from, as he said, Russian weapons at the hands of pro-Russian units. The Ukrainian Ambassador says that Russia “entered occupied parts of Ukraine with thousands of its troops, flew in hundreds of tanks, armored cars, cannons, defensive rocket systems, and numerous other weapons”, but when B&H wants to sell Ukraine some munitions – “officially Moscow suddenly takes a moral stance”.

Ferguson: Politicians must take advantage of the EU’s offer (Srna/Oslobodjenje)

British Ambassador to B&H Edward Ferguson said that B&H politicians must take advantage of the EU’s offer and take immediate steps to implement the reforms as soon as possible in order to stabilize the economy and create jobs, eradication of corruption and strengthening the rule of law, democracy and human rights. “Socio-economic reforms we put in the core of the new EU strategy because without economic stability, there is no political stability,” said Ferguson, and reiterated that there is no reduction in the requirements for obtaining membership in the EU. Stating that the jobs and justice are recognized as issues that are most important to B&H citizens, the British ambassador said eventually political issues would have to be resolved as well as those concerning the reform of the Constitution. He added that the EU did not set precise deadlines to political leaders in B&H because they all need to realize how important it is to move forward as soon as possible. “Governments should be free to set ambitious deadlines and to work hard on realization of urgent reforms in order to achieve the progress,” Ferguson told Oslobodjenje. The British ambassador said that he would like to see more British trade and investment in B&H, but the fact is that B&H is not a country where it is easy to operate. “Do you have some advantages and positive side – most of all well-educated and relatively cheap labor. But taxes on employees are too high, labor laws are inflexible, bureaucracy is too complicated and there is too much corruption,” added Ferguson.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Croatian Policemen Indicted for Operation Storm War Crimes (BIRN, by Sven Milekic, 27 January 2015)

The former deputy commander of the Croatian special police, Zeljko Sacic, and a member of a special police unit, Franjo Drljo, were charged with war crimes against Serb civilians in August 1995. The state attorney’s office in Zagreb on Tuesday issued an indictment against two former special policemen for war crimes against civilians in late August 1995, after the Croatian military’s Operation Storm. As deputy commander of the Croatian special police headquarters at the time, Sacic is accused of not monitoring, sanctioning and reporting on war crimes committed by members of the ‘Lucko’ special police unit. Members of the Lucko unit killed six elderly Serb civilians in the village of Grubori, near the town of Knin, and burned most of the houses there.

The killings happened amid an ‘anti-terrorist’ operation in the area involving 560 special policemen, just after Operation Storm which seized back parts of the country that had been under Serb control during wartime. Sacic did not take any action to stop the killings, sanction the perpetrators or report the crimes to a more senior commander, the indictment alleges. He also banned police from searching for evidence in the area and thus interfered with the criminal investigation. Sacic is further accused of filing a false report to his senior commander which said that the unit had encountered an armed group of around eight to ten enemy soldiers, with the consequence that one of them was killed and four civilians died as ‘collateral damage’.

Drljo is accused as a group commander within the Lucko unit of participating in the burning of a number of houses in village the Ramljani, on the road from Knin to the town of Drnis.

Drljo was acquitted in June 2014 of the killings in Grubori, along with another member of the Lucko unit, Bozo Krajina. A third member of the unit, Igor Beneta, was also indicted, but was found hanged before the trial started. “It is indisputable that six elderly people were killed and that these killings were committed by members of the Lucko anti-terrorist unit, but everything else is disputable,” said judge Zdravko Majerovic while explaining the verdict. Commenting on the indictments, the Coalition of Refugees in Serbia association said that Croatia had only laid the charges under external pressure and accused the Zagreb authorities of not having the will to punish those responsible for war crimes. “The decision by the state attorney’s office in Zagreb to issue two indictments against two former special policemen Zeljko Sacic and Franjo Drlja for war crimes committed after the Croatian military’s Operation Storm in Krajina came following strong external factors,” the Coalition said in a statement on Tuesday.

Islamists interrupt prayers at Sarajevo Mosque (Balkan Insight, by Elvira M. Jukic, 27 January 2015)

Three people wearing Islamic State T-shirts insulted an iman at Friday prayers, amid increased concerns over the rise of radical Islam in Bosnia

Imam Muhamed Velic said that the three men entered the mosque in the Breka area of Sarajevo on Friday and insulted him, calling him a liar, before being escorted out by other worshippers.

“Their appearance was disturbing from the outset. The man who led the group stood in front of me, took off his jacket and revealed an ISIS flag on a long black shirt,” Velic wrote on his Facebook page. One of the three men involved in the incident surrendered to police over the weekend and has been identified by local media as Kenan Krso, an Islamic radical suspected of having fought in Syria. Police confirmed that one man was in custody on suspicion of causing a public disturbance, while the other two believed to have been involved in the incident were still being sought. It was not immediately clear why Velic, who is also a columnist for various newspapers, was targeted. The imam said that after the incident, state agencies and country’s Islamic Community had to address the issue of radical Islamism, which in the past had been “swept under the rug”. Security experts and intelligence officials say that over the past year or so some 160 Bosnians have joined Islamic State or al-Qaeda forces fighting in Syria and Iraq. A number have been reportedly killed in fighting or during suicide-bombing missions. Several people who fought in the Middle East have now returned to Bosnia, increasing security concerns. Bosnia last year passed a law that bans citizens from fighting in foreign countries, which enabled police and intelligence agencies over the past two months to arrest more than a dozen radical Islamists believed to have fought abroad, or to be recruiting others. The Bosnian Islamic Community has criticized those who go to fight overseas and distanced itself from Islamic radicalism, which emerged in the country for the first time at the beginning of the 1990s during the Bosnian war.

Analysis: Bosnian Declaration Will Test Europe’s Resolve (BIRN, by Edward P Joseph and Srecko Latal, 23 January 2015)

Having run into a roadblock at its onset, the new European initiative for Bosnia requires new international commitment or the risks of further crisis in Bosnia will continue to grow

Given the worsening regional and global environment, from greater Russian involvement to increased risks of radical Islam, Bosnia’s crisis has a destabilizing potential that is much greater and wider than ever before. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his British counterpart, Phillip Hammond travelled to Bosnia at the end of last week and met the tripartite presidency, the parliament and leaders of all main parties, to give another push to the new European Union plan for the troubled country. According to the plan, which Steinmeier and Hammond initiated in November and EU leaders approved in December, Bosnia’s leaders were supposed to pledge continued support to European integration in order to move to the next stage. Yet, even that symbolic step has proved problematic. Bosnia’s tripartite presidency duly drafted a vague declaration on December 31. However, this was rejected only two days later by the President of the Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik. The statement violated the broad autonomy that this entity obtained under the 1995 Dayton accord, he said. Dodik insisted that he was not against EU accession as long as it respected Republika Srpska’s state-like prerogatives. He demanded that European integration cease to be an excuse for further strengthening of Bosnia’s central state administration. Dodik’s position represents a clear contradiction to what is the essence of the EU integration process. Aspiring members are obliged to adjust their laws, systems and mechanisms to fit those of the EU, not impose constraints and obstacles. Candidate countries are required to establish better internal coordination and control of the processes and even cede some of their state prerogatives to EU institutions. These steps are anathema to Dodik and to those Serbs who seem to value their independence from Sarajevo more than any attachment to Brussels. The joint declaration of Bosnian leaders on EU values should be used to assess the possibility of a functional tradeoff between these two opposing positions. But EU officials have traditionally been unwilling to directly confront local leaders and their radical positions and appear willing to allow a watering down of the text of the declaration. Following the visit of the two foreign ministers to Bosnia, local politicians have been quietly negotiating a second draft of the declaration that would take into account Dodik’s complaints, which European diplomats hope Bosnia’s political elites will accept. This would enable the EU to move to the next phase, which according to the new EU initiative for Bosnia includes activation of a Stabilization and Association Agreement, SAA and preparation of a more detailed action plan for reforms. Some EU officials fear that insistence on a strong, clear statement would only discourage local leaders, and hope that even the vaguest statement would enable them to enter the process that would eventually bring about necessary changes to the constitution. This is a risky gambit. Similar naïve hopes and great expectations of the EU’s technical processes have doomed many previous international initiatives in Bosnia. By allowing local leaders to water down their opening European declaration, the EU risks strengthening the hand of local leaders who have been struggling to block reforms and preserve a corrupt political patronage system. A weak declaration would allow Dodik, or any other local leader, to revert to it at any stage in future in order to prove that the EU accession process does not require deep changes but accepts Bosnia’s complicated constitutional and legal system as it is. In others words, the declaration that is designed to bring about change to Bosnia may end up being used to preserve the status quo. There are additional signs, revealing some other, old weaknesses in the new EU initiative. During their recent visit, the German and British foreign ministers issued a strong statement, warning Bosnian elites that the new EU initiative was Bosnia’s “last chance” and that the window of opportunity may not be open forever. Having heard so many such statements from Western officials over two decades, Bosnian politicians have learned to recognize them as feeble attempts at pressure, typically employed when the international community lacks more convincing tools of persuasion.What is even more problematic is that these statements show that the EU still sees Bosnia as a low-risk, low-priority country. Rather than engaging in the preparation of a comprehensive strategy that would ensure long-term stabilization of the fragile, deeply divided state, EU officials act as if Bosnians should be grateful for the brief attention Brussels bestows on them, amidst much more serious global challenges, such as Ukraine and the threat from the Islamic State and other radical Islamic movements.Bosnia today may seem peaceful enough but there are ominous signs gathering on the horizon, indicating storms that may come. Two decades after the war, leaders of the three ethno-political blocks stick to the most of their wartime goals while divisions among the three societies which share the same country widen. Erecting barriers to progress, pandering to nationalist fears and engaging in feuds, while conspiring to siphon off state funds from myriad levels of administration, the politicians have exacerbated Bosnia’s polarization. Likewise, the media and academia are also polarized along ethno-political lines while most NGOs are aloof from the public, remaining in existence not out of dedication to public service, but to receive foreign donations. The sad truth in Bosnia is that, with few exceptions, Bosnia’s leaders – and public – have repeatedly failed to “take ownership” of their dismal situation. The hope that last year’s social uprising would morph into a true citizen mobilization has mostly fizzled out. The result is a split country, burdened with the wasteful, duplicative administration that is the legacy of the peace agreements. Two decades on, Bosnia is bereft of functional institutions and decision-making authority needed to modernize the economy and join the EU, and finally achieve stability. Today, Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks can move about the country freely, but live in homogenous communities, almost completely isolated from one another. At the same time, the regional and global environment pose new challenges to Bosnia. Neighboring Croatia and Serbia, saddled with poor leadership and worsening economies, have been undergoing gradual radicalization. Serbia’s Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic is increasingly curtailing the media. Rightist, nationalist forces are growing stronger in Croatia. Russian support for separatism in Bosnia’s Serb entity – an incendiary proposition for Bosniaks – has grown markedly in the wake of Moscow’s clash with the West over Ukraine. At the same time, there is growing evidence of the appeal of radical Islam to elements of the Muslim community. While the number of Bosnian Muslims who have joined the so-called Islamic State is still relatively small, more worrying are signs that some Bosniak politicians, feeling abandoned by the EU, are turning towards Islamic countries for political, business and cultural connections. Left unchecked, the elements are in place for an eventual “perfect storm” which could shake stability in Bosnia, the region and whole of Europe. Through all of Bosnia’s slide, the international community has mostly looked the other way. Brussels has insisted on resolving Bosnia’s numerous problems through the technical process of EU integration. For its part, the US has voiced only halfhearted support for the new EU plan, skeptical about its potential for success, but reluctant to engage American diplomatic resources either by mounting serious pressure on officials or by crafting an alternative approach.

Success requires that US and European leaders shed the illusion that Bosnia is a low-risk country that needs minimal care and can be abandoned if it misbehaves. Instead, diplomats must insist that Bosnia’s leaders unequivocally pledge their readiness to give up some of the decentralized powers granted under outmoded peace agreements in favour of functional coordination of EU reforms among all administrative levels. If some local leaders shun that request, then at least the international community will know the truth and have time to contemplate alternative approaches. Without international determination, the trumpeted new EU approach risks following its predecessors into oblivion. Whether Bosnia quietly follows is another question. With so little perspective for the future, those who can’t leave Bosnia may soon adopt the dangerous conviction that they have nothing left to lose.