LOCAL PRESS

 

Vucic grateful to China for respecting Serbian policy and European path (RTS)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has thanked his Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang for the fact that his country is showing respect for the policy and European path of Serbia, and for treating it as a free, independent country. At the joint press conference Vucic said that the two countries are in agreement on all key issues and that both are exercising the independent policy of peace, without endangering anybody’s territorial integrity. “We are a small country in terms of size but the people who live here stand for greatness and they feel China as a true friend,” Vucic said, noting that Serbia supports the One-China policy. “We are consistent in our policy and we will not change it,” Vucic said. “Serbia and China share the same stance when it comes to the principles of preservation of the international system established after WWII and respect for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries,” Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang stated. The Chinese delegation had fruitful and successful talks in Belgrade, Prime Minister Li said, stressing that a consensus has been reached on promotion and preservation of world peace. “China and Serbia offer support to one another when it comes to crucial issues,” said Li, adding that Beijing supports Serbia’s EU pathway. At a joint press conference after the talks with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, Li underlined that the two countries cherish a traditional friendship based on mutual trust.

 

Dacic: Western Balkans – Serbia’s priority while chairing OSCE (Tanjug)

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic stated that the Western Balkans and regional cooperation will be Serbia’s priority while chairing the OSCE, as well as encouragement to the peace process in Ukraine. “I believe that the region is on the right track and I expect our chairing to further boost regional cooperation,” Dacic said at the reception held on the occasion of the end of Switzerland’s and the beginning of Serbia’s OSCE chairing. He pointed that Serbia’s chairing, commencing on 1 January 2015, will be very important bearing in mind the crisis in Ukraine. Dacic reminded that next year marks the 40^th anniversary of the adoption of the Final Act in Helsinki and he announced that this will be an opportunity for Serbia to act constructively.

 

Constitutional silence on Kosovo (NIN, by Dragana Pejovic)

The judges of the Constitutional Court of Serbia have proceeded literally the way they had been recently “advised” by Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic, so they declared themselves incompetent in assessing the constitutionality of the Brussels agreement, because at issue is a political and not a legal document. The Constitutional Court rejected the request for assessing the constitutionality that was once submitted by the caucus of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS). Even though, as NIN has learned, there are also four dissenting opinions of judges, the discussion on the legal status of the Brussels agreement is finished after this decision, which has not yet been published fully. Slobodan Samardzic, presently the Chairman of the State-Building Movement, assesses this decision as “the misery of the Constitutional Court, whose work is in for criticism now”. “There was no chance for this document to be declared constitutional, but the Constitutional Court is obliged to perform its job. The explanation that at issue is a political document is awkward, because this is a document that is binding for all state organs, primarily in talks with Pristina. It produces legal consequences, the strongest of which is factual waiver of one part of territory, because it is relinquishing to the legislature of the separatist part. Our citizens who live there and have Serbian documents are forced to perform actions that are not in line with our legislature, and they are forced to do this by our government that is acting according to this document.” Samardzic explains that the explanation that at issue is a political and not a legal document is tacit acceptance of the thesis that there are areas that are not regulated by law, which is contrary to the rule of law and a sure way to autocracy.

 

Serb beaten in Pec (Politika)

A group of Albanians attacked Pavic Gojkovic, a 61-year-old Serb, in Pec, on Wednesday, and members of the Kosovo police saved him from being lynched. Gojkovic, a refugee from Pec, stated that a group of Albanians attacked him after he walked out of a lawyer’s office. As he explained, he and his mother went to see a lawyer in order to settle a property dispute with a Kosovo Albanian. The assault left Gojkovic with several fractured ribs. He was saved by the fact his lawyer’s office was close to the police station.

 

Rama: Everyone will be better off when Serbia faces the reality and recognizes Kosovo (TVN1/FoNet)

“Serbia is not our enemy and we must leave the past behind us,” Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said in an interview to TVN1 after the meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. He pointed out that Serbia and Albania should work jointly on the EU to realize that it should support more strongly the Balkans. Our relations must go forward, said Rama, who “firmly believes” that Serbia will be better off and “everyone will be better off” once it “frees itself from the burden, faces the reality and recognizes Kosovo”. Asked when and where he will meet with Vucic next time, he said he had invited the Serbian Prime Minister to visit Tirana. “I said this both at the press conference and privately. He can come and say whatever he wants in Tirana and nobody will feel provoked, nobody will feel anything bad because we don’t have full harmonization regarding this big issue,” stressed Rama. “At the same time, we must cooperate. Serbia is not our enemy. Serbia is potentially our very important ally, with whom we will make the lives of people in Serbia, Albania and the region much better,” said Rama.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

New Government of RS elected (Oslobodjenje)

National Assembly of Republika Srpska (RS), half an hour after midnight, elected the new government, which will again be led by former Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic. The postelection procedure requires confirmation of the Prime Minister and of the composition of the new entity government at the RS Council of Peoples, which has not even been constituted.

For the election of Zeljka Cvijanovic as the President of the RS government and for the members of her cabinet, 44 delegates voted for the election and 37 were against the election. A day-long discussion had 42 discussions, the fierce polarization of MPs from position and opposition, with 40 replicas, sharp accusations and often deviation from the agenda followed. Parliamentarian coalition Homeland pointed out that it is imperative that future entity Government focuses on the area of education of Bosniak children, employment of returnees and the return to the RS.

In the new entity Government Minister of Finance will remain Zoran Tegeltija, the Department of Interior, will be led by the former Chief of Municipal Police in Banja Luka, Dragan Lukac, the new Minister of the Education and Culture will be Dane Malesevic, the Ministry of Labor and Veterans will be led by Milenko Savanovic, in the department of the Ministry of Industry , the Energy and Mining Minister will be Petar Djokic, the new Minister of Justice will be Anton Kasipovic, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management will continue to manage Stevo Mirjanic, and the Ministry of health and Social Welfare Dragan Bogdanic. Jasmin Komic will continue to be the Minister of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government will be led by Leila Resic, Predrag Gluhakovic comes to a position of the Minister of Trade and Tourism, the new Minister of Family, Youth and Sport will be Jasmina Davidovic, department of Physical Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology will lead Srebrenka Golic, a new Minister of Transport and Communications Nedjo Trninic. The Minister of Economic Affairs and Regional Cooperation is Zlatan Klokic, for the Ministry of Refugees and Displaced Persons it is Davor Cordas. The MP from the Homeland coalition Senad Bratic (SDA) was unanimously elected as a Vice President of the National Assembly of RS from among the Bosniak people, and the second Vice-President is Nenad Stevandic from SDS as the largest opposition party. Bratic and Stevandic are elected at the third special session of the entity Parliament, which took place an hour after midnight, and after having completed Parliamentary session on the election of the new RS government. For the two Vice-Presidents, all present delegates voted, 81 of them. Their election constituted the leadership of the entity Parliament.

 

RS showing its full capacity (Srna)

The RS’ re-elected Prime Minister, Zeljka Cvijanovic, deems it very significant that the RS is the first one in B&H to constitute government after the October election and is pleased by the fact that the entity has demonstrated its full capacity. “We should be pleased with the fact that the RS is showing its full capacity. We are the first ones in B&H to constitute the government, which is very important,” Cvijanovic told reporters in Banja Luka after the parliament elected the new Cabinet. In a few days, the parliament will discuss the budget and economic policy for next year, she said. “The exposé clearly defines the measures and objectives we will implement in 2015. Priorities will be to lessen the burden on the economy and create new jobs,” said Cvijanovic. She reiterated that the public administration must be efficient and that the government would not abandon the strategically important projects and work towards the improvement of the standard of living of all population categories. She added that accountability of the founders and managers of all health institutions should be made stricter. “We want a stable RS and that is the goal of this Cabinet. Another priority will be the struggle against crime and corruption, for which there is political will,” she said. Mentioning the Bobar bank, she said the government would not deal with the financial institution’s issues as the RS Banking Agency was in charge of certain activities in that regard. The newly elected minister of finance, Zoran Tegeltija, has said the government knows very well what it needs to do in the future.

“We are aware of all the challenges. By the end of December we must adopt the next year’s budget and economic policy and thus demonstrate that we are accountable,” said Tegeltija.

The finance minister noted that the budget was nearly finished

 

Prosecutor’s Office and Court of B&H lost all their credibility (Srna)

The RS President Milorad Dodik has told Srna that the Court and Prosecutor’s Office of B&H lost all of their credibility by their increasingly frequent selective justice, the persecution and arrogant collective arrests of Serb demobilized soldiers, whose responsibility is usually being examined through long trials. “Almost twenty years after the war, Serb soldiers are in these processes exposed to court torture, provocations and humiliation, quite often even without adequate evidence. With such intolerable behavior, the Court and Prosecutor’s Office of B&H obviously wish to create their own truth – that only the Serbs were criminals, and others were only victims. This has gone too far, and cannot continue,” said the RS President. Noting that the arrests are usually carried out in the early hours of the morning and before the eyes of underage children of the demobilized Serb soldiers, Dodik said that the RS condemns in the sharpest terms the behavior of the Court and Prosecutor’s Office of B&H, and that, due to their selective approach to justice, the RS will have to reconsider the manner of their operation. He emphasized that it is obvious that such Court and such Prosecutor’s Office of B&H allow only arrests of the Serbs, as “how else to explain that Sarajevo prisons are filled mostly with the Serbs”. “I repeated on several occasions that it is not disputable that all those who have committed crimes should be prosecuted, even if they are from the ranks of Serbs, but we do wonder why others are being spared, especially because we know that the first crimes were committed exactly in Sarajevo, such as the Dobrovoljacka street crime, as well as that the drawers in the Court and the Prosecutor’s Office of B&H are filled with the documentation of unprocessed crimes against Serbs. They keep silent about them,” concluded the president of RS, commenting on yesterday’s arrest of ten persons in the area of Zvornik, Bijeljina and Ugljevik, who were arrested on the suspicion of having committed a crime against Bosniaks in the area of Zvornik on July 14, 1992. He stressed that there is no one-sided truth on the civil war in B&H, which, unfortunately, the Court and Prosecutor’s Office of B&H do not wish to acknowledge. “They forget that crimes and violations of laws of war occurred on all three sides in B&H. By way of collective trials, they obviously want to redefine the character of the last war. RS will never allow this,” said RS President Milorad Dodik.

 

Izetbegovic and Komsic agreed to establish a moratorium on further appointments (Glas Srpske)

Chairman of the Democratic Front Zeljko Komsic said after the meeting with the Deputy President of the SDA, Bakir Izetbegovic that it was agreed to establish a kind of moratorium on further appointments that would be entered into the agreement on the principles of forming the FB&H and the cantonal governments. According to him, the HDZ will be invited to join it, “a criterion will be made in regard to further appointments, primarily to ministerial positions and leadership positions”. “The key thing is to stop with these appointments, that is what the law requires now, for people whose mandates that have expired and their replacements, to only temporarily perform those duties, as the acting, and that after the governments are formed every government make an assessment, first of all professional staff that they need,” said Komsic to reporters. The Secretary General of the SDA Amir Zukic said in a statement that this Party was informed about the allegations that in certain institutions in KS and elsewhere, employment in the public sector has continues, although these two parties committed themselves to an agreement that employment should be carried out only in situations of one’s retirement in order to assure continued functioning of these institutions. “The explanations and the reasons which we got from our cantonal authorities were not sufficient, but after the talks between Izetbegovic and Komsic I expect that such confusion will be resolved. In all this, I do not see anything too dramatic. With colleagues from DF we've had pretty good relations, but also a crisis that we have successfully resolved,” stressed Zukic.

 

Definitive: Democratic Front breaks negotiations with SDA at all levels! (Patria)

The Democratic Front (DF) today definitively broke negotiations with the SDA on the formation of governments at all levels. The decision was made by the DF Presidency, who held a conference call session because Zeljko Komsic, the party's president, is outside the country, confirmed Sifet Podzic, secretary-general of the DF. Podzic explained that yesterday they told SDA representatives led by Denis Zvizdic that in Sarajevo Canton negotiations would be postponed until later, or until the SDA ended all concourses for employment in Sarajevo Canton, but Muhamed Kozadra, acting prime minister of the Canton, forwarded the “wrong” conclusion.

“We were waiting for a session of the cantonal government to make a decision. When we received and read it, we accepted that this is about a fraud, because with this decision it was ordered that all concourses that the government did not issue be abolished. That means not a thing, because the cantonal government, or its ministries, issued all these concourses. With that, yesterday I was covered in emails, SMSes from people from other cantons who were saying that the same recipe for employing party people and familiars on the SDA side was being done en masse, at the Federation of B&H and the state level. Because of this, we decided at the highest party level to end negotiations,” Podzic told Patria. By the end of this week or the beginning of next, another meeting at the highest level will be organized. Party delegations led by Zeljko Komsic and Bakir Izetbegovic will meet, and if there is no agreement then on ending employment or returning to the starting positions, then there will be nothing from the DF-SDA coalition.

 

Due to arrest of Lipovaca, executive power at USC no longer exists (Oslobodjenje/Dnevni avaz)

Acting on the orders of the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office, the Federal Police Administration investigators previously determined that there is reasonable doubt that Lipovaca, at the time when he served as Mayor of the Municipality of Bihac in 2007, exceeded the limits of authority such as, contrary to the Law on Public Procurement, signed Annex of the initial contract, as well as the Contract on performing additional work on certain buildings in Bihac in the amount of 1.292 million KM. This was not the first charge against Hamdija Lipovaca; in April 2013 it was announced that the PSL is investigating the case of City square, the privatization of Una-bank and other privatizations, from the time when he was the Mayor of Bihac. At this time Hamdija Lipovaca is placed under the control of members of the Federal Police Administration. Due to arrest of Prime Minister of Una-Sanski Canton Hamdija Lipovaca, executive power at Una-Sanski Canton no longer exists. The government that has worked in technical mandate has no longer a quorum for decision-making, which means that the work of the executive branch is completely blocked. Therefore, budgetary users will not get the promised salaries, or any other payments that come from the budget of Canton, announced the government.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Serbia and Russia continue cooperation despite complicated international situation (TASS, 17 December 2014)
The two countries are successfully cooperating in all spheres despite difficulties, Serbian Ambassador to Russia says ahead of a visit of Serbia’s First Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister to Moscow

MOSCOW Serbia and Russia continue cooperation despite the complicated international situation, Serbian Ambassador to Russia Slavenko Terzic said in an interview with TASS on Wednesday given ahead of a visit to Moscow of Serbia’s First Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic on December 18.

Dacic is expected to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the next day on Friday, Terzic said. “The two ministers have met each other this year (several times) on the sidelines of international organizations and forums,” the Serbian diplomat told TASS.

“They are planning to discuss vital themes concerning bilateral relations as well as international issues, including those related to the Balkan region. Serbia and Russia are successfully cooperating in all spheres despite the complicated international situation,” Terzic said.

He added that Serbia would hold the OSCE chairmanship in 2015.

Serbia’s role as the OSCE chairman in 2015 is important and at the same time responsible, “Terzic said adding that Serbia would be an honest, impartial and constructive mediator that will speak up openly on all issues.

Terzic also pledged that Serbia would support all the existing OSCE missions in crisis regions and would try to settle all problems through dialogue and reciprocal agreements.

“We know it’s going to be hard and how complicated our mission is going to be. However, it is our position of principle. Today, we are dealing with a deep and serious crisis in international relations,” the Serbian diplomat went on to say.

Europe and the world, according to Terzic, should decide in what direction they should move: do they want to return to dialogue on the basis of norms of international law and civilized relations among states and peoples — this option has no alternative — or return to the Cold War which may unexpectedly turn into something worse.

“We do not need this stalemate,” the Serbian ambassador concluded.

On South Stream project

Serbia hopes for reanimation of negotiations on the South Stream gas project, Serbian Ambassador to Russia Slavenko Terzic told TASS in an interview.

“South Stream is a project of national importance for Serbia. We had seriously prepared for the pipeline’s construction,” the Serbian diplomat said.

“That project was not only of great importance for the energy security of Serbia and Southeast and Central Europe, it was also a condition of faster and stronger economic development. Our builders and companies were supposed to have taken part in South Stream’s construction,” which, according to Terzic, would have created new jobs and brought in profits from transit fees. Terzic said the news that the South Stream had been frozen was unexpected for Serbia. “Russia tried to settle its relations with the European Union on this matter. But certain circles in the European Union, and not only them, were more preoccupied with a political rather than economic aspect of this project,” the Serbian ambassador went on to say.

Terzic said he hoped that negotiations on the South Stream could continue considering, among other things, the project’s social and economic significance for the peoples and countries through which the pipeline is supposed to run.

On sanctions against Russia

Serbia will not impose sanctions on Russia, Serbian Ambassador to Russia Slavenko Terzic told TASS. “Serbia has not joined sanctions against Russia and is not planning to do that. This is a clearly defined position of the Serbian leadership. It is based not only on centuries-old historical relations of allied partnership between the two peoples and states but also on the current level of our dynamic relations,” Terzic said.

“Russia consistently supports Serbia’s territorial integrity, especially on the question of our southern province of Kosovo and Metohija. As you know, Serbia has started negotiations on EU entrance but at the same time it wants to continue developing traditionally friendly and close relations with Russia,” the Serbian diplomat went on to say.

Asked to comment whether Serbia was coming under pressure from countries that imposed the anti-Russian sanctions, Terzic said “there was pressure.”

“This pressure is coming indirectly rather than directly in the form of various warnings. Serbia’s stance on those issues is based on our national interests,” the Serbian ambassador said.

 

China, Serbia vow to upgrade strategic partnership to new level (Xinhua, 17 December 2014)

BELGRADE -- China and Serbia on Wednesday agreed to continue to support each other on issues of core interests, further bilateral practical cooperation, realize common development, and upgrade strategic partnership to a new level.

The consensus was reached when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic.

China attaches great importance to the ties with Serbia, Li said, adding that friendship, mutual trust and cooperation have become the main theme of bilateral relations.

Li called on both sides to reinforce infrastructure cooperation, promote major cooperation projects, and start the construction of the Hungary-Serbia railway as soon as possible.

China and Serbia, he said, should encourage information sharing and project docking between enterprises and financial institutions from the two countries.

Referring to expanding agricultural trade and research collaboration, Li called for an early establishment of a network for promoting agricultural technological cooperation and turn the scientific results into productivity.

On lifting the level of bilateral trade and investment, the two sides should hold the 11th China-Serbia joint economic and trade committee meeting as soon as possible, the premier said.

Pledging to strengthen people-to-people exchanges and expand cooperation in education, culture and tourism, Li expected that the Serbian side will facilitate visa issuance for Chinese tourists.

Meanwhile, he expressed appreciation for Serbia's efforts in hosting the third leaders' meeting of China-CEE countries.

Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries is in line with interests of both sides, conforms to the common wish of the region and the peoples, and brings benefit to the comprehensive and balanced development of China-Europe relations, Li added.

Beijing stands ready to work with other CEE countries to promote the China-CEE cooperation and advance the China-Europe ties as well, he said, adding that they would continue to invite the European Union (EU) observers to attend the leaders' meeting, so as to maintain the openness and inclusiveness of the China-CEE cooperation.

Vucic, for his part, said Serbia will always be a reliable friend and partner of China.

He also thanked China for its long-term assistance and support to Serbia.

Serbia is willing to enhance interaction with China both on bilateral level and within the framework of the China-CEE cooperation and to implement consensus and agreements reached by both sides, he said.

Serbia will work with China and Hungary to speed up the construction of the Hungary-Serbia railway project, he said, welcoming more investments from the Chinese business.

After the talks, Li and Vucic witnessed the signing of a number of cooperative agreements in the areas of economic and technical cooperation, energy, finance, aviation and culture.

Also on Wednesday, Li met the press jointly with Vucic. The Chinese leader stressed that the construction of the Hungary-Serbia railway will vigorously scale up China-Europe trade, speed up the development of countries along the route and the entire Central and Eastern Europe, so as to boost the balanced development within Europe and enrich the China-EU comprehensive partnership.

Vucic, for his part, reaffirmed that Serbia is willing to further develop its strategic partnership with China on the basis of mutual respect and equality, and well implement various cooperative agreements with China.

The Serbian side will work with other related countries in the region to advance the construction of the Hungary-Serbia railway and China-Europe land-sea express passage, the Serbian prime minister told the press.

Li arrived here Monday for the third China-CEE leaders' meeting, and an official visit to Serbia.

He flew to Serbia after wrapping up a visit to Kazakhstan in his three-nation trip, which will also take him to Thailand.

 

Can Bosnia's Army Save the World? (Huffington Post, by Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey, 17 December 2014)

Former Bosnian foreign minister and ambassador to the United Nations

Soldiers, officers and police that fought against each other two decades earlier are now working together in UN and NATO operations to keep or deliver peace. It is not just the mere manpower, or women power, that is being contributed by Bosnia & Herzegovina, "BiH." As or more important is the example and hope of former adversaries coming together to work, live together and committed to a greater cause than war -- peace. From Afghanistan to the Democratic Republic of Congo, BiH military are now serving under circumstances where the war cry echoes over the last few decades; but the example of these BiH peacekeepers offers an example and hope of breaking vicious cycles. Besides military, there are now even more police from BiH serving in various missions. A large minority of the police are women.

How an Army Can Win Without Firing a Bullet?
These four BiH officers are not a new generation but were in the 1990's part of armies that fought against each other: Brigadier Siniša Ostojić, Brigadier Zdravko Rezo, Brigadier Jasmin Čajić and Major Goran Stokić. They were hosted by Ambassador Mirsada Colakovic as they made the rounds at UN HQ in NYC anticipating an enlargement of BiH's commitment to UN Peacekeeping operations. With brutal conflict and instability in bad need of a dousing, demands upon UN Peacekeeping may soon be on the rise from Ukraine to Syria to the Central African Republic. Ambassador Colakovic has been representing BiH at the UN over much of the last decade, (both as Deputy and now Head of Mission as well as one of longest serving women Permanent Representatives.) She has made the greater peacekeeping engagement one of the top priorities. When I served as BiH's first Ambassador to the UN, we had one of the largest contingents of UN troops and monitors within the country. The efficacy was not always uniform or up to BiH's needs, but also lessons have been learned from the mistakes and betrayals from that mandate. Ambassador Colakovic observed that: "from consumer of UN Peacekeeping resources, BiH has now become a contributor." It is a vision and hope I shared two decades earlier, but frankly even I have been surprised by the transformation especially as much in BiH remains frozen in time since the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords. The previously warring armies have now become one BiH military, and animosity and suspicion have been overcome by confidence in professionalism and teamwork.

Brigadier Jasmin Cajic was a very skinny junior officer defending a besieged safe area enclave during the 1990's war in BiH. When I first helicoptered in the surrounded Bihac enclave as war still raged, we nudged tree tops as we flew very low to avoid anti-aircraft. (My predecessor as Foreign Minister of BiH, Irfan Ljubijankic, had been shot down and killed, along with three others plus Ukrainian crew just a few months earlier flying the same route.) The civilians and defenders of the Bihac enclave had by then suffered over 3 years of siege, hunger, lack of medical supplies, as well as assaults from rebels in BiH and Croatia. Jasmin is an example of one who is proud of his defense of BiH and its citizens against ethnic cleansing. Brigadier Sinisa Ostojic was on another side during the conflict. He has though already served BiH as a military attache in the state's embassy in Washington. What struck me is the satisfaction and pride that they all had in now working together, serving BiH and the broader goal of peace. Animosity in the past has become an experience upon which to build new responsibilities, within BiH but also a broader globe now once again succumbing to despots and war gangs employing fear and tales of age-old hatreds. (All those serving now have been vetted to satisfy that those shooting at each other did not engage in war crimes - grave violations of international humanitarian law.)

When the international community and particularly its presumably most responsible powers are not engaged or united enough to address a conflict, they frequently resort to excuses of "insurmountable age-old conflicts," from Syria/Iraq to Ukraine, to the Horn of Africa. That was the same excuse offered for an inadequate response in BiH back then. Unwittingly or not, this narrative acquiesces with that of the war makers, those who would promote presumably irreconcilable differences, fear and history to further war, brutality and war crimes. The BiH experience teaches that a history of diversity can be an asset for a state/society as well as risk. In peace all can be victors while artificial divides consume energy and marginalize us to role of combatants, or worse.

An Alternative Narrative to ISIS Coming from Bosnian Muslims?
BiH's Muslims have come out of the conflict victimized by ethnic cleansing and an attempt at genocide. In fact, all have lost. Undoubtedly Muslims felt betrayed by the Western democracies, and this has provided rationale to some violent jihadists, including many of those now sympathetic to ISIS (the so-called Islamic State.) However, BiH Muslims' (Bosniaks) answer to exploitation of religious bigotry is to be ever more committed to coexistence. While diversity poses its challenges, the history of BiH teaches that it is an asset. BiH Muslim soldiers who defended their country and people against overwhelming odds are now working with allies and former enemies to make it work better. This can be a powerful narrative as well as symbol in helping bring back Syria and Iraq from the brink, especially under a UN flag as UN peacekeepers are likely to be called upon to be part of any future settlement regardless of what leaders remain from the combatants. BiH's Islamic leadership has taken lead in calling for decisive action to confront ISIS.

Restoring Ukraine?

A UN-mandated mission will in the end be part of any settlement or at least cease fire in Ukraine. Bosnian Orthodox (Serb) peacekeepers leading a BiH contingent could take lead where Orthodox Christians are on both sides of that conflict with significant Catholic and Muslim minorities. Ethnic identity, Ukraine versus Russian, may be a key factor misused to wage war against the other. The BiH experience again can serve as a contrary narrative as to what is possible in peace and a lesson as to how war can be exploited by despots and marauders. (The rebel leader Igor Strevkov who originally claimed shooting down MH17 had joined Serb para-military marauders in the 1990's war in BiH, and now radicalized Serbs from BiH and Serbia have gone to Ukraine to join and frequently accentuate the nationalist war cry and brutality, just like some radicalized Muslims had joined ISIS

Empowering Women via UN Police:

BiH has an even larger contingent of police working under UN mandate, with around 25 percent of them female. Approximately 50 BiH police are now deployed including in Liberia, Somalia, South Sudan, Cyprus and Afghanistan, with that number expected to double. Women in conflict zones around the globe have been directly targeted more recently as they had been during the 1990's war and genocide in BiH by even those wearing police uniforms as well as paramilitary. The example of BiH female and male police of mixed ethnicity working to stem sexual violence, enhance the rule of law and provide training to local counterparts now exerts a powerful example and lessons.

Bosnia as Catalyst to Promote Co-Existence?

Serving as the first Ambassador of a fledgling BiH and witnessing the suffering and pain inflicted, but also the swell of popular support for a beleaguered in the 1990's from college campus to AME Church, from synagogue to concert hall, from civil society to mosque, I had thought, hoped that BiH could serve as catalyst to overcome other conflicts that had assumed their own perpetuating narrative of "age-old hatreds." From the Middle East, to Africa, to Europe, to the new world demagogues, haters and despots have been empowered by the ready to serve historical narratives to emphasize the flash points of conflict over the extended periods of coexistence. BiH has long been an example of history being exploited for hate calories while in fact diversity has nourished its society and culture as a whole.

Unfortunately the greatest betrayal of the Dayton Accords may be that it opted for the empty-calorie hate narrative over the legacy of diversity. Soon the opportunity that a Bosnian peace might be the dawn of a new age of global reconciliation was overcome by those who promoted their own self-serving narratives of the BiH war. Some sought to further stereotypes of the region's peoples by falling back upon tales of historical conflicts, (somehow simultaneously deaf and blind to the even more dramatic reality of hatreds that engulfed Western Europe highlighted by WW II and the Holocaust only a generation earlier.) Beyond compromises between states and combatants, concessions were made to identity politics based on religion, ethnicity, even language. The rationale for a "bad peace" still dominates the debate in BiH, but this contagion has taken hold well beyond the region, from ISIS ideology to Putin's new imperial project.

Perhaps as a young American-Bosnian diplomat in the 1990's I was a bit too hopeful and naive in my vision of the future for BiH and the globe. However, maybe recent history also bears out our trust in coexistence. The one institution that appears to function most effectively and professionally in BiH is also one of the most integrated. Despite the fact that some of its most senior officers were at war with each other, now they exhibit respect, professionalism and even amity. Globally and regionally nationalism, religion, race and ethnicity can be exploited as weapons with risks of rapid contagion via old and new media and propaganda tools. Peace needs its own greater methodologies and narrative?

We may Not Always Look the Same, but....

In the late 1990's, Burundi continued to simmer with the apparent Hutu-Tutsi tension that had ravaged Rwanda with genocide. The former President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere and then mediator for the Burundi negotiations had asked me to assist him in the talks by relating BiH's experience to the conflicting parties. In the conference center in Arusha, (also the UN HQ for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda,) the participants crammed around a dais. Recalling the question that international mediators frequently asked upon entering BiH, I relayed this memory to them and asked with a smile, "How do I distinguish between you who is Hutu or Tutsi or ... Croat, Jewish or Bosniak?" They all let out a big laugh, and then several without dissent explained that actually over the extended history of coexistence and intermingling the physical differences and even cultural were less defined. Rather, ethnicity had come to be exploited as a political banner to further the agendas of the half-dozen or so political parties. Ironically, in that society Muslims made up a minority in a Catholic majority country and had come to be seen as Burundians free of the ethnic/racial identity and as potential honest brokers in mediating competing agendas.

The New War Against Intolerance Won by Soldiers, Ideology and Narratives:

The symbolism could be even more nourishing. NATO, EU and particularly US assistance in providing "train and equip" had been instrumental in catalyzing the transformation of BiH's military into both a more effective and reintegrated institution, (despite the shortcomings of the Dayton Accords.) Now, the BiH soldiers and police as peace begins to take hold could be the greatest asset for NATO/US forces in Syria or European monitors in Ukraine or UN peacekeepers in Mali. BiH has become an asset and the more recognized as such, the more it can contribute as member of the Euro-Atlantic family and globally?

Bosnian Serb MPs Endorse New Entity Cabinet (BIRN, by Elvira M. Jukic, 18 December 2014)

The Republika Srpska assembly has confirmed the new 16-member team under Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic, of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD.

Two months after the general elections, the assembly of Bosnia's mainly Serbian entity, Republika Srpska, on December 17 confirmed a new four-party entity government under Zeljka Cvijanovic. The cabinet of 16 ministers received the endorsement of 44 of 83 MPs in the assembly, while 37 voted against. Cvijanovic said in her address to the assembly that many challenges faced the new government in terms of strengthening institutions and economic problems. “Conducting measures for recovery and new growth in the economy will be the most important and hardest task of the new government,” Cvijanovic said. Opposition parties criticized the speech as being insufficiently precise and of failing to deal with real economic issues and problems. “We don't see any argument about how it's going to get better - there is nothing in this speech,” said Branislav Borenovic, of the Party of Democratic Progress, PDP, one of the parties of the opposition bloc, the Alliance for Changes. Other opposition MPs, including Boris Jerinic of the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, accused the new entity government of being based on criminal elements. Following the elections in October and before the formation of a new parliamentary majority under the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, Cvijanovic was accused of involvement in moves to effectively "buy" the political support of some key MPs. In an audio-recording published in November, a woman's voice, allegedly that of Cvijanovic, could be heard explaining that her party had bought the services of two MPs, ensuring the SNSD of the support of a majority of votes in the entity assembly. She has dismissed the allegations as fabricated. In the new government, ministries have been split between four parties. The dominant SNSD has taken eight ministries. Dragan Lukac is Interior Minister, Zoran Tegeltija is Finance Minister and Anton Kasipovic is Justice Minister. Stevo Mirjanic has Agriculture, Dragan Bogdanic runs Health Care, Jasmin Komic is in charge of Science and Technology, Srebrenka Golic runs Planning and Construction, and Zlatan Klokic is in charge of Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation. The Socialist Party, SP, has taken four ministries. Petar Djokic is Minister for Industry, Energy and Mining, Milenko Savanovic is in charge of Labour and Veteran-Invalid Protection, Predrag Gluhakovic runs Trade and Tourism and Jasmina Davidovic is handling Family, Youth and Sport. The Democratic People's Alliance, DNS, has obtained three ministries. Dane Malesevic is in charge of Education and Culture, Nedjo Trninic runs Transport and Communications and Lejla Resic is Minister of Administration and Local Government.

Finally, Davor Cordas, the Refugee Minister, is a member of the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ.

 

Daniel Mitov: The Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina Cannot Be Applied for Macedonia (Euinside, 17 December 2014)

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a special case and the EU's new approach toward the country is not applicable for any other of the candidate countries from the Western Balkans but also from the Eastern Partnership if, at some point in the future, such a process begins for them as well, said Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov in an interview with this website after the end of the meeting of the EU foreign ministers on 15 December during which, for the first time, have been adopted conclusions in support of the initiative of some member states to boost the integration process of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mr Mitov said that Bulgaria insisted the conclusions to explicitly say that Bosnia and Herzegovina is an exception. Such a text, however, cannot be found in the document. The plan for BiH or any other similar plan cannot be applied for Macedonia, the minister believes.

However, this does not mean that Macedonia is isolated. There is a lot of talk about the former Yugoslav republic and everyone is trying to help the country but in the end of the day it is up to the country to help itself, which is valid not only for the finding of a solution of the name dispute but also for the signing of an agreement of friendship with Bulgaria. In the same time, Daniel Mitov said that the integration of all Western Balkan countries is a huge priority for Bulgaria. "They are our neighbours whom we hope one day to be part of one common family with. Bulgaria will invest huge efforts to help all the countries that aspire for membership with its experience - both positive and negative". He added that he had urged all his colleagues in the Council to prevent the countries from the region to feel isolated. They should feel the presence of the European institutions and the European minsters and leaders should visit these countries more often to allow the Western Balkan countries to feel involved in the process.

Regarding the risk for the European integration of the region stemming from the deteriorated relations between the EU and Russia, the Bulgarian top diplomat pointed out that it is very important not only to open and close chapters but also to ensure alignment with the European common foreign policy. Otherwise, he said, "it will be very difficult for us to find arguments for the enlargement".

 

Raiffeisen Gloomy About Croatia, Serbia Economies (BIRN, by Sven Milekic, 18 December 2014)

Regional analysis conducted by Raiffeisen bank says the economies of Serbia and Croatia saw no growth in 2014 and will not do much better in 2015 - while the outlook for other countries is somewhat brighter. Research by Raiffeisen Bank Austria, RBA, on economies in Central and Southeas Europe suggests that Croatia and Serbia had negative GDP growth in 2014 and will not grow much in 2015, either. Croatia’s GDP fell by 0.8 per cent, while Serbia's GDP fell by 2 per cent fall in 2014, according to the bank. Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved modest progress of 0.5 per cent in 2014, Bulgaria saw 1.4 per cent growth; while Albania's economy grew by 2 per cent, the bank estimates. Romania and Kosovo grew the fastest economically in the region, by 2.5 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. In 2015, the bank predicts some growth for Croatia and Serbia. Bulgaria will have a similar modest growth rate of 1.2 per cent; Bosnia and Herzegovina will enlarge its GDP by 2.5 per cent and Romania will remain at a similar level to 2014, with growth of 2.7 per cent. Regional leaders in 2015 will be Albania with 3 per cent growth and Kosovo with likely 3.5 per cent growth, the banks says. Gross foreign debt will remain a serious problem for some Balkan countries. Croatia ran up a foreign debt equivalent to 106.8 per cent of its annual GDP in 2014, which will rise slightly, to 106.9 per cent, in 2015. The second most indebted country in the Balkans, Bulgaria, which has debts worth 100.2 per cent of its annual GDP, will cut its debt by 4 per cent in 2015. Serbia, which comes third on the regional list in terms of the relative size of foreign debt, reaching 83.9 per cent of annual GDP in 2014, will see its debt grow by 2.9 per cent in 2015. Albania, with a relatively modest debt of 28.5 per cent of its GDP in 2014, and Kosovo, whose debts are worth 13.7 per cent of its annual GDP, will stay on the bottom of the list in terms of indebtedness in 2015. The report warned that Croatia’s economy will not grow because “refinancing the costs [of its debts] for 2015 will devour just over 22 per cent of GDP”. Additionally, the report says Croatia will still have problems with an excessive budget deficit of 6 per cent in 2014, falling slightly to 5.1 per cent of annual GDP in 2015. On the other hand Serbia faces weak credit supply, along with “lacklustre retail and public demand, along with a tough reform agenda and high geopolitical risks”. The report envisages some export growth, once the Beograd–Bar (in southern Montenegro) railway starts functioning in 2015, but stressed that the economy will be in an even worse state if, as seems likely, the South Stream project remains on the drawing board.

 

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Media summaries are produced for the internal use of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, UNMIK and UNHQ. The contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership.