LOCAL PRESS

 

Vucic: We have done a lot, but we can’t go beyond some boundaries (Tanjug/Beta)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier that the decision in the EU negotiations is not on Serbia, but on European partners, and that here at issue are not reforms but the relation with Pristina. “At issue are some things from the Brussels agreement, such as the Union of Serb Municipalities, and some outside the Brussels agreement. We will do our best, protecting our national and state interests, to reach agreement where we can,” said Vucic. He pointed out there were topics that could not be even discussed, and one of them is to hand over 100 percent of the hydro potential of Gazivode. “Nobody on Earth will make me do this. If somebody wants an answer, then they must show this and the decision is on the EU,” said Vucic. “If your conscience is clean, if you have done everything, if you have praises…We have done a lot, we will do more, but there are boundaries beyond which we cannot go,” said Vucic. He reiterated that Serbia would never recognize independence of Kosovo, and that Serbia wants to establish rational and reasonable relations with Pristina through the dialogue, but in such a way so they are not an obstacle or threat to anyone in the Balkans.

 

Steinmeier: Nobody sets new conditions to Serbia (RTS/Tanjug)

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who met with Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic at the beginning of his visit to Belgrade, said that Germany would work together with the Serbian authorities on the chapters to be opened in the course of the year, Tanjug reports. “We should not be conducting debates as to who is to be blamed; nobody has changed conditions to Serbia or introduced news ones, including Germany. This is nonsense,” Steinmeier told a joint press conference with the Swiss and Serbian counterparts Didier Burkhalter and Ivica Dacic respectively. He added that Germany would be working on soonest opening of chapters this year. Asked what in this context meant that Belgrade and Pristina are required to make a compromise, Steinmeier said that it was not disputable between the two sides that normalization was an integral part of joint tasks. “Both sides are in contact and normalization is an integral part of what needs to be done for progress towards the EU. But this is nothing new, this is an already known prerequisite,” he said. “Relations are improving, trust has increased and I would be glad if the Serbian public opinion is based on this,” Steinmeier said, adding that Germany demonstrated with last year’s Conference on Western Balkans in Berlin interest in the region. Dacic said that two things, stressed by Steinmeier, were important for him, this being that our relations are now better than ever, and that Germany, respecting what Serbia had done so far, will pass decisions that concern the further process of Serbia’s EU integration. Dacic recalled that, until recently, the situation was not such, saying that he attended the meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the then Serbian president Boris Tadic in Belgrade. According to him, this was one of the most unpleasant meetings that he attended and an indicator of the great differences between the Serbian leadership and German policy. “Today, the situation is very different,” said Dacic.

 

Dacic: We harshly condemn terrorist attack in Zvornik (Radio Serbia)

Serbian Foreign Minister and the OSCE Chairperson Ivica Dacic most harshly condemned the terrorist attack in Zvornik, and warned there were big risks from radical Islam in the region. It is very important to preserve stability in B&H, and intelligence services should cooperate as close as possible in order to prevent terrorist attacks, said Dacic. At a joint press conference with German and Swiss colleagues, Steinmeier and Burkhalter, Dacic said that the problem of terrorism and fight against terrorism is constantly discussed at OSCE meetings.

 

OSCE Troika: Political dialogue in Ukraine to be opened promptly (Tanjug)

The OSCE Troika comprising of Serbian, German and Swiss Foreign Minister advocated on Tuesday the promotion of the political process in Ukraine, and called for the promptest possible implementation of the Minsk agreement and establishment of a political dialogue in this country. OSCE Chairperson-in-office Ivica Dacic stated after the Troika meeting in Belgrade that the political dialogue should be established as soon as possible. “It is crucial not to miss this opportunity for peace in Ukraine,” Dacic told a joint press conference with German and Swiss Foreign Ministers, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Didier Burkhalter respectively. He also announced that four working groups will be formed soon to deal with political, economic, security and humanitarian issues. Minister Steinmeier urged the conflicting parties to put in practice everything that has been agreed as quickly as possible and establish demilitarized zones and trade relations between eastern Ukraine and Kiev. The Swiss Minister underlined that the work of the Trilateral Contact Group is vital for facilitation of a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Ukraine. Dacic voiced hope that the situation in Ukraine would develop toward the establishing of peace, and lifting of sanctions, and noted that in terms of sanctions Serbia took a neutral stand. When asked what would be Serbia’s position in case sanctions to Russia over the Ukraine crisis become more severe, Dacic said: “Serbia is not an EU member state. It is yet to open initial negotiation chapters. However, honoring its national interests, it has taken a neutral position.” Dacic said that Serbia is not pleased with sanctions in general, because it was hit by them itself. “We are considering the lifting and not the imposition of more severe sanctions,” he said. Steinmeier said that it is the EU’s decision that the sanctions against Russia depend on the implementation of the Minsk Agreement, adding that the process should be sped up.

 

Vucic interview (RTS)

In an interview for Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS), Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic explains that every conversation in Brussels with the Albanian side is a big struggle. “The talks in Brussels are sometimes constructive, rational, reasonable, but sometimes we also hear something that we cannot even discuss,” says Vucic. He points out that he wants to maintain political stability of the country, adding that a strategic long-term agreement with the Bosniaks is necessary. “When it comes to political stability, I have sleepless nights over the attacks in Macedonia and in Zvornik,” explains Vucic. He underlines that he is never silent before such attacks and the statements on Greater Albania.

He says that Serbia will have to amend the Constitution in the next two-three years, but that it is necessary for the entire society to harmonize on this issue. He points out that this will not be over Kosovo, which, according to him, many would like this to be the case. We will have to amend the Constitution over the judiciary in the EU accession, Chapter 23 and 24, as well as the number of deputies and many other issue, explains Vucic.

Commenting the decision of President Tomislav Nikolic for the Serbian Army to take part in the military parade in Moscow, Vucic says that nobody can oppose this because we also requested the Russian Army in Serbia on the occasion of the Liberation Day of Belgrade. “Ukraine is a friendly country and it didn’t recognize Kosovo,” said Vucic.

Speaking about Vojislav Seselj, Vucic says that he never had a high opinion on the ICTY, but that he is now especially disappointed. He says that Serbia is not DHL to receive a package, nobody to ask Serbia’s opinion, and then to return the package. He says that he has known Seselj for a long time, that Seselj knows that he is not interested in crime and wealth and that he likes to work. He points out that it would be stupid for him to say that Seselj is less educated than someone from the opposition, but points out that he cannot praise his policy.

 

Dikovic visits Serbian “blue helmets” in Cyprus (Tanjug)

The Chief-of-staff of the Serbian Army Ljubisa Dikovic has visited the members of the Serbian Army engaged in the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus. Dikovic said that the Serbian Army members are performing all tasks within this UN multinational operation in a highly professional way. The Serbian “blue helmets” are very well trained and able to adequately present Serbia through their outstanding performance, Dikovic said. So far, a total of 368 members of the Serbian army have been engaged in the UN mission in Cyprus, and currently there are 46 of them, the Defense Ministry released in a statement. Dikovic will visit the Serbian army members in Lebanon on Tuesday, where a total of 177 Serbian “blue helmets” have been engaged in the EU peacekeeping mission, the statement reads. Members of the Defense Ministry and the Serbian Army are engaged in the UN peacekeeping missions in Congo, Liberia, Ivory Coast, the Central African Republic and the Middle East, and also the EU multinational operations in Somalia and Mali.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Terrorist attack on a police station in Zvornik (Fena/Nezavisne/Dnevni avaz/Tanjug)

A policeman has been killed and two others wounded in an attack on a police station in Zvornik, in the Serb entity (RS) of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). The attacker, Nerdin Ibric (24), from the village of Sapno near Zvornik, entered the station little after 19:00 CET on Monday armed with two rifles and a pistol, and opened fire. According to the Fena news agency, he shouted, “Allahu Akbar!” The assailant shot and killed Officer Dragan Djuric at the door and managed to injure Stevo Milovanovic and Zeljko Gajic before he was himself shot and killed as other policemen opened fire. The RS Interior Minister Dragan Lukac has confirmed the identity of the attacker, saying that he drove up to the station, choosing to enter the building during shift change, “knowing there would be the greatest number of policemen at that point”. Lukac has qualified the incident as a terrorist attack. Interior Minister, who arrived to Zvornik last night, also said that the attack “could be the start of much worse happenings in B&H”. The RS President Milorad Dodik has been quoted as saying that the incident showed that the Serb entity “cannot count on intelligence sources from B&H”. Nezavisne daily reported earlier that “a member of the (radical Muslim) Wahhabi movement drove himself to the Public Safety Station in Zvornik, and when he was told he cannot park there, started to shoot”. According to Nezavisne, a large number of citizens gathered in front of the General Hospital in Zvornik inquiring about the condition of the wounded policemen. Zvornik is located in eastern Bosnia, on the Drina River that forms the border with Serbia. The attack has caused strong reactions from authorities of both entities. B&H Security Minister Dragan Mektic said that “such things cannot be tolerated”, and announced “a strong and repressive action”, that would be launched in cooperation with the B&H Prosecution. Mektic also said late on Monday that the intelligence agency OSA “three days ago received a report that a terrorist act was being preparing in B&H”. The minister told the Dnevni avaz daily that the incident in Zvornik “can be characterized as terrorism, based on information from the field received so far”. Director of the B&H Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) Goran Zubac said the incident was “a pronounced terrorist attack” that “proved there is terrorism in B&H”, and announced “suppression of terrorism in cooperation with the Prosecution and all agencies”. In Belgrade, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said that Serbia will, based on the Dayton Agreement, help the RS financially and with intelligence after the attack. Vucic told the state broadcaster RTS that he spoke twice during the evening with Milorad Dodik, and that both Dodik and the RS interior minister would travel to Belgrade in two days’ time for a meeting with him and Serbia’s interior minister.

 

B&H Presidency: Threat to security and international position of B&H (Srna)

The B&H Presidency condemned in the harshest possible terms the attack on the Public Security Station in Zvornik, qualifying such attacks as a threat to security, constitutional order, and international position of B&H and its citizens. The Presidency called on citizens of B&H to stay calm and refrain from any activities that might lead to interethnic or interreligious provocations, incidents, and raising tension, the Presidency said in a statement. The Presidency called on competent police and judicial bodies at all levels to cooperate with each other and carry out a detailed investigation aimed at establishing of all facts relating to the crime committed, including the motives behind the attack, as well as possible connections to other persons or accomplices.

“The B&H Presidency demands from judicial, police and intelligence-security agencies to undertake all necessary measures towards prosecuting and sanctioning severely all persons who advocate or prepare criminal acts of this kind, as well as all persons who in any way are linked to such crimes,” reads the statement. The Presidency extended their deepest sympathy to the family of Dragan Djuric, who had been killed in the line of duty, expressing their hope for a quick recovery of Zeljko Gajic and Stevo Milovanovic, who had been wounded in the attack.

 

Emergency session over terrorist attack in Zvornik (Srna)

The B&H Presidency Chairman Mladen Ivanic stated Monday evening in Istocno Sarajevo, following a meeting of Serb representatives at the institutions of B&H, that he had called for an emergency session of the B&H Presidency over the terrorist attack in Zvornik. “Based on all information available so far, it is absolutely clear this was a terrorist act. This act puts at risk the life of ordinary people, the lives of our children. This is an attack on all of us and a matter that deserves no more compromises,” said Ivanic. He pointed out that this is a battle that has to be fought to the end, emphasizing that the RS representatives in the institutions of B&H had agreed to insist on it. “I will insist on having representatives of all security organizations and agencies in B&H sit together very soon. This is the priority above all priorities. We cannot, must not, and will not allow terrorism to win, because it is their wish to create conditions close to a new war, and this is something we will not give in to, “stressed Ivanic.

 

Dodik: Serb entity has right to defend itself (Nezavisne/Beta – Banja Luka correspondent)

The RS government has condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack on a police station in the town of Zvornik, where one policeman was killed and two others wounded in the attack on Monday evening. During the special cabinet session, RS Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic called for peace and tolerance and urged citizens to refrain from spreading panic and misinformation. She said that the RS expects full cooperation of all institutions and citizens with the investigating authorities, in order to determine whether this was an isolated or an organized terrorist act. “We have to consider whether there are organized groups in B&H that provide organizational and political support for such terrorist groups,” the Prime Minister said. The RS government also supported the decision of RS President Milorad Dodik to hold a meeting with Serb representatives in the joint institutions of B&H. President of the RS National Assembly Nedeljko Cubrilovic said that this terrorist attack was an attack on the RS institutions and called for peace and tolerance, saying that last night was difficult for all three peoples in B&H. Milorad Dodik voiced his support for the measures of the government, thanked the RS police for quickly establishing control of the situation in Zvornik, in order to avoid an escalation of residents’ discontent. “The situation in the RS is under control and there are no destabilizing elements,” said Dodik. He announced that the entity will in the coming days assess the ability of its police to confront terrorism, noting that no one will stop it in doing that. The President added that intelligence structures on the level of B&H proved to be incompetent. Dodik announced that the RS will develop its own intelligence service, stating that a few days ago all institutions were forwarded the information that a terrorist attack could happen in B&H “but without specifying where”. “Shots were fired at the RS, we have the right to defend ourselves, and we will defend ourselves,” he warned.

 

Intelligence-Security Agency knew of the possible terrorist attack (FTV/Factor)

B&H Minister of Security Dragan Mektic confirmed for FTV that the Intelligence-Security Agency (OSA) knew since Friday about the possibility of the attack qualified as “terrorist”, and forwarded the information to other agencies. In Zvornik, the classic terrorist act with the worst possible consequences has happened, and that is the death of a policeman and wounding of several of his colleagues. We are now definitely facing a serious problem, called terrorism in B&H, said Mektic. He pointed out that the B&H Ministry of Security and all of the B&H Police Agencies are going to be available with all their resources in the fight against terrorism and terrorist activities. In this context, he stressed that the Ministry of Security will take all the necessary steps to coordinate activities in order to adequately fight against the attacks that indicate terrorist activity. Banja Luka based journalist Slobodan Vaskovic published earlier on his blog the information that the RS Interior Ministry received information about a potential terrorist attack two days ago: “The RS Interior Ministry two days ago received the official information from the B&H security structures that the terrorist attack will happen in the RS. However, this information did not mention in what part of the RS will it happen.” The High Representative Valentin Inzko, in his statement for FTV, condemned the terrorist attack on a police station in Zvornik. Inzko described the incident as “a shocking thing and a last warning after the attack in Bugojno and on the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo”, criticizing at the same time police agencies in B&H for their lack of cooperation. However, he stressed he did not expect a destabilization of the situation in B&H, but even better cooperation of police agencies in B&H. Inzko said that the attack in Zvornik sends a bad echo to the world, but that citizens must be united.

 

Galijasevic: Motive of the attack destruction of Republika Srpska (Srna)

The motive for a terrorist attack in Zvornik is the destruction of the RS and destabilization of the RS and Serbia, as well as sending a message to the Serb people that they are not safe, the expert on counter-terrorism Dzevad Galijasevic told Srna. “Zvornik has been attacked, which is in fact, the heart or the bridge between Serbia and the RS. This message is being sent at the moment when the RS has undertaken significant steps in the fight against terrorism and has introduced the administration for such a fight, and in the moment when the RS Interior Ministry really wants to pay more attention to this issue,” said Galijasevic. He noted that this is not an isolated incident, nor was it accidental action of a deranged fanatic. “This is a planned terrorist action, which aims to forcibly produce certain political solutions, cause the total destabilization of the region and make the whole situation far more complex and difficult,” warned Galijasevic.

‘However, this event cannot be analyzed without serious analysis of a disturbed security situation in the region from the aspect of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism,” said Galijasevic.

He pointed to the destabilization of FYROM, and the attempt to overthrow the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, as well as the attack on the police station on the border between Macedonia and Kosovo, which was committed by the Mujahidin’s associated with the order of “El Mujahedin” from B&H. “All this is proof that the time of serious destabilization is coming and it shows the activity of the Islamist elements associated with the war time formations, it proves the fundamentalist politics of Sarajevo and some of the western agencies.” Galijasevic said that the Agency for Investigation and Protection (SIPA) B&H objectively has the largest jurisdiction for this type of anti-terrorist action, but that its director is being compromised by the illegal court proceedings that are run against him. Galijasevic pointed out that in any case this situation should be treated seriously because such attacks can always happen. “There are about 5.000 people who are able to perform such an attack, and there are about 100,000 people who are being prepared for such roles, by being fanaticized and religiously radicalized without the resistance of the society.”

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

New BIRN War Crimes Film Premieres in Belgrade (BIRN, by Ivana Nikolic, 28 April 2015)

BIRN's latest feature-length documentary, which investigates the commanders responsible for some of the most brutal attacks of the Kosovo war, was screened for the first time in Belgrade.

The new documentary, The Unidentified, which names the Serbian officers who ordered attacks on Kosovo villages around the town of Pec/Peja in 1999 and those involved in the cover-up operation to hide the victims’ bodies, was premiered at the Centre for Cultural Decontamination in Belgrade on Monday evening. Marija Ristic, the director of the documentary, said the film was the result of a two-year investigation, during which one of the biggest challenges was to get witnesses to speak out about what they saw. “War crimes are taboo in Serbia and because of that it was very hard to find everyone involved in these events, and to urge them to appear in the film which includes both victims and perpetrators,” Ristic said after the screening. ‘The Unidentified’ takes viewers back to 1999, to the villages of Ljubenic, Cuska, Pavljan and Zahac near Pec/Peja in Kosovo, where Serbian fighters killed more than 118 Albanian civilians. Their bodies were either burned or removed, and some of them were later found in mass graves at the Batajnica police training centre near Belgrade in 2001. The trial of 11 of the direct perpetrators is still ongoing, but those who gave the orders have never been prosecuted in Serbia. Ristic, who followed the trial for three years, said she didn’t just want to make a film about the Serbian fighters on trial, but about all those responsible for the attacks and those who ordered the subsequent cover-up attempt. “We were most interested in the removal of the bodies, because the cover-up is not in the indictment [of the 11 ex-fighters]. And we looked for those who gave the orders,” she said. Geoffrey Nice, the former prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the case of Slobodan Milosevic, said that both crimes detailed in the film were the state’s responsibility. “The evidence we had gave us reference to the state office and through it we could trace it right to the top. The cover-up was the most powerful evidence of the unlawfulness of what Slobodan Milosevic was doing during the war,” said Nice, who took part in a panel discussion at the Belgrade premiere. Nice said that the others responsible for the crimes and the cover-up should also be prosecuted in Serbia. “This is extremely powerful and important film, and the court should be more open to the evidence presented here,” he said. Ivan Jovanovic, a transitional justice expert and former head of the OSCE department for war crimes and organised crime in Serbia, said that the biggest problem in war crimes prosecution in Serbia is dealing with the commanders. “Command responsibility is not easy to prove – it depends on the willingness and courage of the war crimes prosecutors and their persistence in requesting the necessary documents from the archives of Serbian Armed forces,” Jovanovic said. Vladimir Vukcevic, Serbia’s chief war crimes prosecutor, said that the prosecution plans to continue investigating the chain of command, referring to the ongoing investigation of General Dragan Zivanovic. Zivanovic is a former commander of the 125th motorised brigade of the Yugoslav Army, and was in charge of 177th intervention squad, whose members are currently on trial for the crimes in the villages around Pec/Peja. “The War Crimes Prosecution Office is in a very delicate situation as this is an ongoing case. Accusing and proving is not easy,” Vukcevic said at Monday’s debate. Dragoljub Stankovic, the deputy war crimes prosecutor, argued however that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia dealt with the removal of the bodies during the trial of Vlastimir Djordjevic, former Serbian assistant interior minister. “We [the War Crimes Prosecution Office] cannot find the legal means to prosecute people who ordered and participated in the body removal,” said Stankovic. He said that these crimes should be dealt with by regular prosecutors and not his office because they were not war crimes. But Ristic argued that war crimes prosecutors did have legal grounds to get involved. “The removal of the bodies is not a war crime, but it is a crime against humanity and as such can be tackled by the War Crimes Prosecution Office,” she said. Faik Ispahiu, head of court monitoring for Internews Kosovo, told the debate that people in Kosovo closely followed war crimes trials in Serbia, but a lot of anger still exists because they do not believe that justice has been served yet. “Sixteen years after the war, nothing in particular has been done. Those crimes were committed on the orders of state officials and police and army generals, so they were not done individually,” Ispahiu said. After its Belgrade premiere, ‘The Unidentified’ will be screened next in Pristina on May 7.

 

Gunman Shouting Allahu Akbar in Bosnia Storms Police Station (AP, by Aida Cerkez, 27 April 2015)

A gunman stormed into a police station in a northeastern Bosnian town shouting "Allahu akbar" on Monday, killing a policeman and wounding two others, authorities said. The gunman was also killed during the attack in the town of Zvornik, police spokeswoman Aleksandra Simojlovic told The Associated Press. "Allahu Akbar" is the Arabic phrase for "God is great." The Bosnian Serb police chief, Dragan Lukac, identified the man as Nerdin Ibric. Zvornik is a town in the Bosnian Serb part of the country and it is located on the border with Serbia. Before the 1992-95 war, about 60 percent of the town's population was Muslim Bosnians. Almost all were expelled and many were killed during the war as part of a Serb campaign to create a purely Serb area.

Serbs managed to control half of Bosnia by the time the U.S. brokered a peace agreement in 1995 under which each warring party could keep their conquered territory. This is how the country ended up divided into two fairly autonomous regions — one for the Serbs, the other shared by Muslim Bosniaks and Croats. The two have their own governments, but are linked by a central government based in Sarajevo. After the war, only a few thousand Muslims returned to the Serb area of Zvornik. Security Minister Dragan Mektic said the gunman stormed into the building with an automatic rifle and was killed in crossfire with police inside. He said Bosnia's intelligence service had vague information about a potential terrorist attack three days ago, but that they didn't know when or where it might occur. The Bosnian Serb government will hold an overnight emergency session and the regional president, Milorad Dodik, told Bosnian Serb TV he believes the attacker was instructed by someone else even though he acted alone. Lukac, the police chief, called on citizens to help police. "We will fight against them and we will never forgive them, but police can't do it alone. We need the citizens to help," Lukac said, without specifying who he meant by "them." The imam of the Zvornik mosque, Mustafa Muharemovic, condemned the attack.

———

Irena Knezevic contributed to this report from Banja Luka and Sabina Niksic from Sarajevo.

 

Bosnian Serbs Raise Stakes After Zvornik Terror Attack (BIRN, by Srecko Latal, 28 April 2015)

The leader of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, said the entity may withdraw from Bosnian state security structures  following the attack on a police station. The President of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity, Milorad Dodik, said his entity may withdraw from Bosnia's state-level security apparatus following an attack on a police station in the east of the country. “Republika Srpska was shot at and we have right to defend ourselves, and we will defend ourselves,” Dodik said. He added that Bosnian Serb police structures were being given three days to assess the security situation and the capacity of the state agencies to protect the entity from terrorism. Dodik’s statement followed an emergency session of the Republika Srpska government on Tuesday, dedicated to the deadly attack of an Islamist militant on a police station in the eastern town of Zvornik. The attacker - who shouted the Islamist slogan "God is Great" - killed a policeman before being shot dead himself. Two police were injured in the shootout on Monday evening.  Talking to journalists after the emergency government session, Dodik condemned the work of the state intelligence agencies, which he blamed for failing to prevent the incident. Bosnia's Security Minister, Dragan Mektic, last Friday said the state Intelligence and Security Agency, OSA, had indications of a possible terrorist threat to Bosnia but did not have any details about when and where it could happen. On Tuesday, Bosnia’s State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA, in cooperation with the Republika Srpska entity police, raided two locations in eastern Bosnia and arrested one person believed to be involved in the attack. Dodik dismissed Mektic’s claims and demanded that the OSA reveal exactly what kind of information it had.  “We do not need that kind of intelligence organization,” Dodik said. State-level security agencies were established in Bosnia as a part of a difficult reform of the police and security sector in the divided country. A senior international official told Balkan Insight that eventual withdrawal of the Republika Srpska from state security structures and establishment of parallel agencies would mark a concrete step towards the effective dissolution of Bosnia. The same official expressed concerns that Dodik may be misusing the attack on the police station to move ahead with his announced separatist agenda, which he has reiterated since being re-elected leader of the strongest Bosnian Serb party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, on Saturday. Zvornik was the scene of some of the worst atrocities of the 1992-5 war in Bosnia. A formerly majority Bosniak [Muslim] city, it was radically ethnically cleansed by Bosnian Serb forces. About 4,000 people were reportedly killed in organised mass expulsions.

 

Bosnia expects to agree new loan deal with IMF: central bank chief (Reuters, by Zoran Radosavljevic, 27 April 2015)

ROVINJ, Croatia - Bosnia will start talks this week on a new loan deal with the IMF as its current loan arrangement, put on hold last September, has effectively been concluded, central bank governor Kemal Kozaric told Reuters on Monday. The International Monetary Fund said separately on Monday it would begin reviewing terms of its loan for Bosnia, which it put on hold due to the government's failure to implement agreed economic policies, from Tuesday. It said it may also discuss a new loan arrangement with the authorities. But Kozaric said the lender has already told Bosnian officials that the 33-month aid program worth around 630 million euros ($680 million), agreed in September 2012 and due to expire in June, had been concluded. "Right now it is clear that the old stand-by deal has been concluded, this is what we were told in Washington," Kozaric said in an interview on the sidelines of an economic conference in Croatia. Kozaric said the last tranche under the ongoing loan, worth 300 million Bosnian marka ($166 million), would be included in the new loan, which is expected to be approved in August or September. "In the first phase (of talks), both sides - Bosnia and the IMF - will outline their respective positions regarding feasible reforms and the size of a new loan," he said. He said the size of the loan had yet to be defined but would probably be similar to the one agreed in 2012 for 380 million euros, which was later enlarged. "There is a high degree of agreement regarding reforms between the entities," Kozaric said, referring to Bosnia's two autonomous regions, the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Serb Republic. The two regions urgently need IMF cash to plug deficits in their respective budgets that have widened after floods last year inflicted damage of 2 billion euros. "Everybody is aware that structural reforms must be implemented with or without IMF, and perhaps it's better with the IMF because that is accompanied with funds, also from the World Bank and the European Commission," he said. Kozaric said the European Union has supported a new loan deal with the IMF, hoping it would ease the implementation of economic reforms the bloc seeks from Bosnia. "We were clearly told the IMF is a key player, but that the World Bank and the European Commission will also be included to support the reform process." "I think they are working together, in a package." He estimated Bosnia's economic growth in 2015 at 2.6 percent, a bit higher than the IMF which set it at 2.3 percent.

(Writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Dominic Evans)

 

Bosnia chides Canada over exclusion of Srebrenica in genocide recognition (The Canadian Press, by Mike Blanchfield, 27 April 2015)

The Bosnian government is calling on the Canadian Parliament to correct its “mistake” of not including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre during its Friday recognition of 20th-century genocides.

A leading Bosnian Muslim organization says it, too, is surprised that the House of Commons did not include the Srebrenica killings during its Friday debate and vote. “My impression is that it is an omission and there is still enough time to rectify this kind of omission, or mistake,” Fuad Didic, the charge d’affairs of the Bosnian embassy in Ottawa, said in an interview Monday. Parliament unanimously passed the motion declaring April to be Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention Month. It cited four atrocities: the Holocaust, the 1915 Armenian massacre by Ottoman Turks, the 1932-33 Holodomor famine in Ukraine and the 1994 slaughter of ethnic Tutsis in Rwanda. But the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 1,000 Muslim men and boys was left out of the private members’ bill tabled by Conservative MP Brad Butt that led to the motion. They were among an estimated 8,000 Muslim men and boys killed in eastern Bosnia by Serb forces in 1995. The United Nations has recognized the killings as genocide, the only time it has assigned that designation to a mass slaughter in Europe since the world body’s founding after the Second World War. “We need to listen to the voice of history and our hopes are that the Canadian parliament will not turn their back to the internationally verified fact,” said Mr. Didic. “Because the genocide in Srebrenica was internationally verified, proven and recognized.” The Congress of North American Bosniaks and the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada asked in a letter that Srebrenica also be included in the recognition. Liberal MP Irwin Cotler noted the absence of Srebrenica in Friday’s debate, but supported Butt’s motion, saying he would introduce his own motion in the coming weeks to recognize the Bosnian tragedy. “They wrote to express their surprise that Srebrenica Remembrance Day and the related motion unanimously adopted by this House on October 19, 2010, are not mentioned in (the motion), and they request that it be included,” Mr. Cotler said. “Indeed, Srebrenica Remembrance Day is the only genocide commemoration day recognized by the House of Commons but not specifically referenced in the motion before us.” Emir Ramic, of the genocide institute, said he was grateful to Cotler, fellow Liberal Stephane Dion, and New Democrat MPs Brian Masse and Paul Dewar for pushing forward with a motion to recognize the Srebrenica massacre. Mr. Ramic said he was surprised the Bosnian tragedy was left out of Friday’s motion given that the Commons unanimously voted in October, 2010, to establish Srebrenica Remembrance Day. July 11 is the 20th anniversary of the genocide. The new motion being worked on by the opposition MPs also notes that the Canadian National Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg has had a permanent exhibition commemorating the Srebrenica genocide since September.

 

Macedonia Police Arrest Suspect For 'Terror Attack' (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 28 April 2015)

After raiding the Lipkovo area, where last week armed gunmen reportedly attacked a remote border post, Macedonian police said they had arrested one suspect. Skopje Macedonian police said they had arrested one suspect in connection with the recently reported attack on a remote border post. The suspect, aged 55 and from the border village of Brest, was found in possession of firearms and military uniforms during raids conducted over the weekend. Police said they found two automatic rifles, two sniper guns, ten pistols, ammunition as well as Albanian paramilitary uniforms at his home. They believe the suspect is linked to a group of some 40 men who stormed the border post at the village of Goshince. "After analyzing the weapons and their serial numbers, it has been determined that they are part of the weapons used in the attack on the [border] police post," Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska said on Monday. The police presented video footage of the house in Brest where they said they found the weapons stash.
Over the weekend, media reported that hundreds of heavily armed and armoured special police forces raided the border villages of Brest and Malina Maala. Police helicopters were also used.
Last Tuesday, they said a group of 40 armed men wearing the markings of an Albanian paramilitary unit, the National Liberation Army, NLA, had stormed the police post the previous night. Police Spokesperson Ivo Kotevski said a "terrorist attack" had taken place and that the attackers, who appeared to be from Kosovo, spoke Albanian and took four policemen who were manning the border post hostage, before later releasing them. The scene of the reported attack, the village of Goshince, part of the ethnic Albanian rural municipality of Lipkovo, is some 25 kilometres northeast of the capital, Skopje, towards the border with Kosovo. The region was on the frontline of armed hostilities during the conflict in Macedonia in 2001 between Albanian insurgents and the security forces. The conflict ended with the Ohrid accord, which offered more rights to Albanians who make up a quarter of the population of 2.1 million. In return for the deal, the NLA disbanded and formed a political party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, which now sits in government. Commenting on claims that Albanian "terrorists" linked to the NLA had attacked the border post, DUI head Ali Ahmeti on Monday said only that his party was working to find a peaceful solution to all national problems. “The DUI wants to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem,” Ahmeti said on a visit to Kosovo, stressing that Albanians in Macedonia had to work within the Ohrid agreement. Following the attack, some analysts, opposition politicians as well as former NLA commanders accused the authorities of trying to distract the public from the country's ongoing internal crisis. The opposition has accused the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of orchestrating the illegal surveillance of thousands of people.

Former Macedonian Police General and 2001 war veteran, Stojance Angelov, who is now an opposition activist, was among the first, one month ago, who blamed the authorities for plotting ethnic incidents to distract attention from the political situation. "I got these information from several well informed people close to the state security structures. They told me that a larger group of criminals with NLA emblems and uniforms has been roaming the regions of Kumanovo and Lipkovo," Angelov says. He added that from his talks with former NLA members who are now employed in the police he got the impression that there is no climate for renewed tension. "This only boosted my suspicions that somebody has hidden intentions and is only misusing the NLA branding". Additional suspicion of inconsistencies in the official story was raised when one day after the alleged attack, the pro government Dnevnik daily cited police spokesperson Ivo Kotevski as saying that the group of 40 'terrorists' came to Macedonia from Kosovo and later returned there using only "two cars in which they transport their weapons and uniforms". Several days after the incident, Mirsad Ndrecaj, known during the 2001 Macedonia armed conflict as 'Commandant NATO' has taken the responsibility for the attack on his alleged Facebook profile, Albanian language newspaper Koha informed. "While the political leadership [of the junior ruling DUI] led by Ali Ahmeti fight for their personal interests, we the former commanders of NLA have never agreed with the Ohrid Accord, which was never fully realized" Ndrecaj was cited as saying. He denied claims by some opposition politicians that the group responsible for the attack might have taken money from the Macedonian government in order reignite the ethnic tension.

 

Macedonia Slammed for Failing to Liberalize Energy (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 27 April 2015)

Macedonia has breached its EU commitments to liberalize its energy market, the Energy Community has said, giving it only two months to rectify this failure. The organization in charge of creating a Pan-European free energy market on Monday criticized Macedonia for its failure to liberalize its energy market, saying it had breached consumers' rights and protected the monopoly of the current supplier, Austria's EVN. “Macedonia’s decision to postpone the full opening of the electricity market, thereby prohibiting consumers from choosing their supplier, is another manifestation of the government’s deliberate policy of systematically refusing to accept the country’s obligations under the Energy Community Treaty and, consequently, EU law," the Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, Janez Kopac, was cited as saying. The criticism comes in the form of a "Reasoned Opinion" that the Energy Community has sent to Macedonia as part of its effort to settle the dispute over this issue, allowing the country two months to rectify its behaviour. "The current problems in the energy sector mirror other problems of the country - the growing politicization of state institutions and the dramatically deteriorated political situation. What we witness is a growing isolation of the country from the international community,” Kopac said. The Energy Community is an international organisation established between the European Union and a number of third countries to extend the EU internal energy market to Southeast Europe and beyond. It aims to establish a Pan-European energy market with unified rules. While Macedonia maintains that it postponed liberalization, fearing a risk of “possible drastic increases in the price of electricity for households", the Secretariat insists that the move has had the effect of "shielding the incumbent supplier from any actual or potential competition by prolonging its legal supply monopoly for a significant period" and that there are other ways of keeping the electricity prices for businesses and households at an acceptable level. Austria's EVN entered Macedonia in 2006 by buying the state-owned power supplier ESM. Its arrival was heralded as bringing an improvement to the power supply, but also sparked fears of price hikes. However, these have been kept in check by the government. Prices have increased on several occasions since then but are still below European market prices.

 

Russian Statement on Macedonia Infuriates Albania (BIRN, by Gjergj Erebara, 28 April 2015)

Tirana has called in the Russian ambassador after the Kremlin blamed Albania and Kosovo for the recently reported 'terrorist' attack on a border post in Macedonia. Albania's Foreign Ministry on Monday said it had summoned the Russian ambassador, Alexander Karpushin, demanding clarification about a Russian statement on the recently reported armed incident in Macedonia. Macedonian police on 21 April said that gunmen speaking Albanian had stormed a remote border police post near Kosovo and taken four police officers hostage before releasing them. Some Macedonian experts, politicians and former commanders of a now disbanded Albanian paramilitary force have accused the Macedonian authorities of inventing or exaggerating the incident in order to distract the Macedonian public from the country's internal dramas. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was “deeply alarmed” by the reported incident and blamed Kosovo and Albania. “The incident on the Macedonian border is proof of the lingering sharp ethnic problems and conflict potential in that part of the Balkans. The situation is made worse by a major lack of law abidance and security in Kosovo, which obviously stems from the unresolved Kosovo problem in general,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a press statement. “The calls for a Greater Albania that are heard more and more often in the region cannot be overlooked, either,” Moscow added. Albania on Monday called the statement unacceptable. “The allegations against two sovereign states of Albania and Kosovo about the latest events in Macedonia are unacceptable and [have the potential] for destabilization,” the Albanian Foreign Ministry said. “Such declarations are blackmail and do not serve for a constructive approach in the region, nor do they respect the widely accepted principles of international rights,” it added. “Albania is a NATO member and a candidate to join the EU and any blackmailing statement from Russia will be seen from this perspective,” it added. Russia has historically poor relations with Albania, is a close ally to Serbia, and does not recognize the independence of mainly Albanian Kosovo - which was a province of Serbia before proclaiming independence in 2008. Albania has joined the Western stance on the conflict in Ukraine and has condemned the Russian for interference in the affairs of its western neighbour.

 

Crime Ties of Albanian Candidates Worries US (BIRN, by Gjergj Erebara, 28 April 2015)

The US Ambassador in Tirana, Donald Lu, on Monday said his embassy was concerned about the criminal backgrounds of a number of people standing in the June local elections. The US ambassador to Albania said his embassy had identified several known criminals among candidates standing in the June local elections. "In general, we feel quite positive about the lists, particularly the presence of well-qualified women candidates in large numbers," Ambassador Donald Lu told a ceremony, presenting US efforts to help civil society groups monitor the local elections scheduled for 21 June. However, highlighting US concerns about the influence of crime and corruption in Albanian politics, the ambassador went on to say:  "We have identified a few names of persons with possible criminal records and we are discussing their cases with political leaders. "We encourage journalists, NGOs and ordinary citizens to demand that their politicians meet the highest ethical standards." The presence of crime in Albanian politics has been highlighted in the past few months after several MPs were exposed as convicted criminals or as suspects in serious crimes, such as murder and drug and people trafficking. The US ambassador did not provide any concrete names of the alleged criminals standing in the elections. Party leaders in Albania are widely blamed for tolerating the presence of convicted or suspected criminals in public office. Albanians will vote to elect 61 mayors and about 1,500 councilors in the 21 June local election in the first electoral showdown since the 2013 general landslide victory of the Edi Rama's Socialist Party-led coalition. Albania changed the administrative division of the country last year, reducing the number of municipalities from 373 to 61 in order to improve the efficiency in local administration. However, this reduction of municipalities had raised concerns about the great concentration of power in the hands of few party leaders. The US Government had provided about 500,000 USD to help civil society organizations to monitor the local elections.

 

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