LOCAL PRESS

 

Dacic: Williamson’s report confirmed Belgrade’s claims (Radio Serbia)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has greeted the report of special prosecutor Clint Williamson because it confirms the earlier claims from Belgrade about the crimes of the KLA over the minority communities in Kosovo and Metohija and organized ethnic cleansing after 1999. Dacic has stressed that the report is a necessary step toward justice and court proceedings against the perpetrators of the crimes, and he expressed hope that that document would help in transferring the matter of those serious crimes from the political to legal arena. Williamson’s objective report gives us reasons to believe that the investigation into the murders and trade in the human organs of the kidnapped Serbs will not be stopped, Dacic stressed at the press conference. He also expressed hope that the establishing of a court to deal with the crimes depicted in the report and raising indictments would not be procrastinated.

 

Serbian Interior Ministry must deliver Vulovic and Ristic to EULEX (Politika)

If the present and former mayors of Zubin Potok Stevan Vulovic and Slavisa Ristic are on the territory of Serbia proper, the police are obligated to arrest and deliver them to EULEX according to the protocol on technical cooperation between EULEX and Serbian Interior Ministry. EULEX chief spokesperson MiguelCarvalho de Faria didn’t wish to comment eventual extradition assuming that Vulovic and Rustic are in Serbia or possible request for extradition from countries where EULEX would have information on the whereabouts of the suspects. Following the delivery of the invitation to both persons for an interview with the prosecutor and due to failure to appear before him/her, the prosecutor requested the trial judge to issue arrest warrants. Arrest warrants are usual practice when the suspect is requested to attend the interview and he/she doesn’t appear, stated De Faria in a written statement to Politika.

 

Belgrade doesn’t have official information regarding EULEX’s warrant (Danas)

Other than EULEX’s statement that an arrest warrant has been issued for Stevan Vulovic and Slavisa Ristic, Serbia has no official information on this case. For us Vulovic and Ristic are not only absolutely innocent but also very prominent citizens, who need to be enabled to freely give a statement on what interests the EULEX prosecution, but without unnecessary arrest or interrogation threats, Danas was told at the Office for Kosovo and Metohija on the occasion of the announcements that the Serbian Interior Ministry could extradite the former and present mayors of Zubin Potok. The Office for Kosovo and Metohija considers that “such cases point to the need to initial an agreement on the judiciary as soon as possible and to establish courts in the municipalities with a Serb majority, where judges and prosecutors will be Serbs, as envisaged by the Brussels agreement”. Danas wasn’t able to receive a direct response from the Serbian government to the question whether the Serbian Interior Ministry has any obligations towards EULEX in this case, especially since at issue are not warrants, but orders for interrogation. Slavisa Ristic told Danas that he received an affirmative answer to his direct question to Serbian officials whether he is a free man in his country, in this part of Serbia outside Kosovo and Metohija. He rejects as ridiculous the accusations of the EULEX prosecution, as he “heard about them for the first time on 15 July while he was on vacation”.

 

Djuric: Serbia’s efforts in implementation of Brussels agreement recognized (Tanjug)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said on Friday after a meeting with European Commission (EC) experts in Brussels that Serbia remains committed to the implementation of the Brussels agreement and EU integration. “I think that the Commission has recognized and noted positively the efforts that the Serbian government has been putting in the implementation of the Brussels agreement, although the government in Pristina has not been formed yet,” he said. Djuric said that Serbia will remain committed to the implementation of the agreement on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina in all fields, including the establishment of the Union of Serb Municipalities in the province and the resolution of the issues in the fields of telecommunications and energy. “Serbia is taking resolute steps toward the establishment of the Union, and with the same determination- toward the EU,” Djuric underlined, adding there is political will in the country to put the necessary reforms in place. He stressed that the formation of the Union will ensure that Serbia’s further steps along the EU path are not to the detriment of the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija, or to the detriment of Serbia’s integrity and sovereignty.

 

Miscevic: EU is a moving target we have to follow (Danas)

As a country that negotiates on the membership in the EU, Serbia must get in line with its laws and practices, but also with the new developments, said the Head of the Serbian negotiating team Tanja Miscevic. The EU is a moving target that we have to follow, because we need to be aware that we will became a member in the conditions that the EU itself will be in at that moment, Miscevic stressed in an article she wrote for the Danas. She points to the five strategic priorities of the Strategic Agenda, adopted at the semi-annual summit of the EU: stronger economic with more working places; strengthening and security for all citizens; safe energy future and development of the environmental policy; the EU that guarantees freedom, safety and justice; and finally, the EU as a strong global actor. Miscevic has emphasized that Serbia should improve the business climate and enable the opening of working places through the better approach to finances and increased investments.

 

Agreement between Serbian War Crime Prosecution and MICT (Beta/B92/Radio Serbia)

The Serbian War Crime Prosecution and the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), which succeeded the ad hoc prosecutions in The Hague, have signed an agreement on cooperation in Belgrade. Serbian War Crime Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic and MICT prosecutor Hassan B. Jallow have stated after the signing that this document will enable better cooperation between the two bodies, especially in the area of information exchange. There is a widespread belief that as The Hague Tribunal ceases its work, it also means ceasing the work on the perpetrators of war crimes, which is untrue. That task is being transferred to the regional judiciary, so the contribution of the residual mechanism for international tribunals is precious, Vukcevic explained.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Jonker: OSCE observing elections in B&H, not interfering in the process itself (Fena)

“The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is observing the elections in B&H, but we won’t interfere in the process. The election process is on B&H, and the OSCE is here because B&H obligated itself through the OSCE and invited us to observe the elections and we will see whether they are organized in accordance with international standards and laws in B&H,” said Corien Jonker, the chief of the electoral observation mission of the OSCE/ODIHR in an interview with Fena. Asked how many OSCE observers will be tasked with the elections in B&H, Jonker answered that the OSCE will have observers at three levels. “We will have a main team comprising 11 experts in elections. Aside from them, we have ‘long-term’ observers who are coming to B&H in the coming weeks. Twenty of them will be divided into teams that will cover the whole of B&H, and will remain after the elections are held. The third group comprises ‘short-term’ observers who will come to oversee the election day itself, from the opening of polling places, during the entire process of the elections, down to the closure. There will be 300 of them and they will also be distributed across B&H,” said Jonker. Asked about OSCE’s expectations for this year’s elections, she said that the OSCE just observes elections and that is why they have no special expectations, and that’s not why they are here. “We are impartial, we work in an objective manner and we consider various issues and information we come to. If there is something the OSCE should resolve, then we will consider that, but it’s not on us to have any kind of expectations,” said Jonker. Asked whether the government in B&H is capable of organizing and holding elections itself, or whether they need help, she answered that since she just arrived in B&H, she did not want to hastily come to conclusions. “The OSCE will observe, listen, and watch very carefully all participants included in the electoral process, starting from the government, the opposition, state and entity levels, representatives of political parties, non-governmental organizations, civil society groups, the media, and human rights organizations.” She added that then, on the basis of all gathered information, they will create an “interim” report, approximately two weeks before the election, which will be prepared on the basis of information they receive. “After the election we will have a preliminary report in which the observation of the day of the election itself will be included, of course. The final report we will have eight weeks after the election, which will include recommendations for future elections,” said Jonker.

 

Dodik: New RS Constitution next year (TV Alternativa)

The Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik announced that a new RS Constitution – in accord with the Dayton Agreement and the Venice Commission, which confirmed the RS’ jurisdiction in the judiciary – is planned for next year. “We will do it, regardless of ensuing conflicts and attempts by some to stop us. The powers now enjoyed by B&H are neither in keeping with Dayton nor constitutional,” Dodik said in Banjaluka on TV Alternativa. He confirmed that the RS is dissatisfied with the operations of the B&H Court and Prosecution, and that it will endeavor to restore the relevant competencies to the RS. Dodik said that the situation in the judiciary in B&H will not change for the better even though Milan Tegeltija from the RS was recently appointed president of the B&H High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, since this issue does not depend on him. “This power should be returned to the RS, meaning that a high judicial and prosecutorial council should be formed here and the RS Parliament should appoint prosecutors and judges,” Dodik explained. He said that the highest crime rate and corruption are in the judiciary, which requires an effective struggle. Dodik said that the SNSD has created a system with which to fight this occurrence in the RS by forming the Special Court and Prosecution, and has included 6 million KM in the budget for its financing. He said that a wide operation was launched in the RS in connection with privatization and that a great number of people have been prosecuted. “Then the B&H High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council stripped us of the possibility to say who is in charge of fighting crime and corruption in the RS Special Prosecution,” Dodik said. He said that he will propose that the RS Special Court and Prosecution be abolished and will propose some other institutional measures, as it is obvious that judges are not doing their part of the job properly. He said he can guarantee that today there are no organized crime groups or mafia in the RS. “We could ‘destroy’ them only because we have jurisdiction over the police,” said the RS President.

The RS Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic said that in all of B&H, only the RS has 75% of the competencies that are relevant for EU accession. Cvijanovic said that the RS proved to be a good collocutor to official Brussels. “We have not had a contact point in the European Commission at the B&H level for a number of years, till the moment awareness rose in Brussels of how B&H’s European road should look, knowing what kind of competencies it has at its disposal,” Cvijanovic told TV Alternativa. According to her, the success of people now on the political scene will be measured by their ability to defend the RS position using constitutional and legal arguments. “We have a responsible approach to this issue and we understood that a mechanism to coordinate the competencies of institutions on the European road should be established,” Cvijanovic said. She said that the RS is advocating a coordination mechanism similar to those in some other decentralized countries.

The RS Parliament Speaker Igor Radojicic said that the RS is suffering on its European road because of B&H’s inability to meet European conditions. He stressed that the RS could progress on that road on its own much more quickly and could meet European standards alone without jeopardizing its relations with Moscow. Radojicic told TV Alternativa that B&H as it is at present cannot progress. “B&H – being non-functional and incapable of meeting European conditions – is a problem for us. Because it cannot resolve the Sejdic-Finci issue, the coordination mechanism and the like, we cannot progress on the European road,” Radojicic said.

 

Ceric calls young people not to fight in foreign wars (Fena)

The candidate for the Bosniak member of the B&H Presidency Mustafa Ceric has called young people from B&H no to fight in foreign wars and give their lives for someone else’s interests. Ceric noted that young people must know that their country needs them too and called the society to pay attention to all needs of the young, especially those spiritual and moral ,”so the young would not have to look for answers from those who are abusing their sincerity and credulity”.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Bosnia court detains five Islamists under terrorism charges (Reuters, 8 September 2014)

SARAJEVO - Bosnia's state court has ordered one-month detention for five Islamists charged with organising and recruiting people to fight for radical groups in Syria and Iraq, the court said on Monday.

The five were among 16 people who were detained last week in police raids across Bosnia on charges of financing terrorist activities and recruiting and fighting abroad, the first such security sweep since jail terms of up to 10 years were introduced in April for those activities. The move was aimed at discouraging young Bosnians from going to fight in Syria. Most Bosnian Muslims, known as Bosniaks, practice a moderate form of Islam but some young Muslims have embraced the ideas of the puritanical Sunni Wahhabi sect.

The five detainees were suspected of "organising a terrorist group and ... recruiting for terrorist activities," the court said, adding they should be detained to prevent them fleeing, influencing witnesses or continuing their activities.

Local media have reported that three of the detainees have fought and returned from Syria. A fourth, Husein Bosnic, known as the unofficial leader of the ultra-conservative Salafi movement in Bosnia under the name Bilal, has never been to Syria but has publicly urged young Muslims to join the Islamic State.

His lawyer said that Bosnic was charged with acts he had committed before the law came into force and that he would file an appeal against the detention.

During the Wednesday's raids, police confiscated a large amount of weapons and ammunition.

So far prosecutors have questioned nine out of the 16 people originally held last week. As well as the five detention requests, they have asked that the other four questioned suspects should be placed under house arrest.

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

 

'Turkey main transit route for Balkan fighters to Syria, Iraq' (Today’s Zaman, 6 September 2014)

ISTANBUL - Esad Hecimovic, a Bosnian investigative journalist, says Turkey is a transit route for Bosnian and Serbian fighters who have joined the war in Syria and Iraq, adding that 150 Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina have traveled to fight in Syria so far.

Hecimovic is an editor at OBN TV based in Sarajevo. He was recognized for his contribution to investigative journalism by the South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO) and the Central European Initiative in 2009. He was also given the “The Journalist of the Year” award in Bosnia and Herzegovina for his work in 2011.

Since the Syrian war broke out, many people living in the Balkans have begun traveling through Turkey to the Middle East to fight. Asked to comment on the factors behind this Hecimovic said there are several reasons.

"The most important factor is prolonged recruitment by the network of recruiters. It was enabled by propaganda among Balkan Muslims about Sahwa al Jihadi as a central theme for religious awakening," he said, adding that recruiters are mainly local activists and preachers who are mostly recruiting people from known Salafist groups.

Some of the foreign fighters in Syria were arrested, prosecuted and jailed on terrorism charges in Bosnia in previous years. Government representatives have also claimed that people pretending to be tourists have been recruiting people in Bosnia.

However, Hesimovic says the topic is not well studied or shared in the public domain. Often it is limited to some articles in daily and weekly newspapers. Hesimovic said in an interview with Sunday's Zaman that reports about deaths of Bosnian Muslims who volunteered in the Syrian war caused reactions. The minister of security initiated a legal change that banned Bosnian citizens from participating in wars on foreign soil. The change was adopted by the parliament, and it is now illegal to participate in foreign wars. Such participation is punishable by up to 10 years in jail. There is an ongoing criminal investigation by state police (SIPA) about such recruitments.

So far 150 Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina are estimated to have gone to participate in the Syrian conflict.

According to Hesimovic the participation of Bosnian citizens in the Syrian war is not about their citizenship. "These volunteers are making cross-border networks through their ethnic or language community throughout regional and ethnic diasporas in many countries. In my opinion there are probably more volunteers," he said.

Hesimovic also said the governments of the Balkan states took action based on three main points to stem the tide of people travelling from the Balkans to Syria.

"There is intelligence and police monitoring. Political reaction led to the legal changes. There are also criminal investigations by the state police," Hesimovic noted.

As to the factors that motivate young people to leave Bosnia and the Balkans to join the war in Syria and Iraq, Hesimovic said the volunteers are trying to come together around what they call "Islamic solidarity and establishment of a caliphate, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL] as a religious state based on Sharia law." Although, he points out that the two are not linked and there is no space for Islamic extremism within Islam.

"There are many public debates interpreting the war in Syria as a religious war after one visit made by Sheikh Yusuf Qardawi to Sarajevo last year. The official Islamic community in Bosnia is strongly opposed to such characterization of the war in Syria," Hesimovic said, adding that propaganda about Shia as enemies of Sunnis is also an important part of mobilizing many volunteers from Balkan states.

Commenting on the main transit route of fighters from the Balkans to Syria and Iraq, Hesimovic said that most of the militants are passing through Turkey by plane, car or bus.

"The Istanbul airport was the entry point for most of them," he said.

As for measures to stop the movement, Hesimovic urged governments to act against their recruitment networks and key preachers who call for young people to participate in foreign wars.

"Recent changes to the law made recruitment and encouragement punishable. But government, Islamic communities and society in general should address other factors of influence," he said.

Esad Hecimovic has written several books, including "Garibi - Mudžahedini u BiH 1992 - 1999" (Mujahideens in Bosnia 1992-1999). Hecimovic has worked with a number of Western journalists and media outlets, including some Pulitzer Prize winners on cross-border investigations throughout the past 20 years.

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina: the Plenums legacy (Balkans and Caucus Observatory, by Andrea De Noni, 8 September 2014)

Seven months after the February protests, a political alternative to the forthcoming general elections is not in sight. However, activists believe the movement is sowing seeds

"What we did was very important". Ines Tanoviæ has no doubts – she is one of the activists who participated in last February's protests and in the formation of the plenums, the popular assemblies "open to all citizens" that were to bring citizens back to politics formulating their claims against the political class, guilty of decades of mismanagement. "The experience of the plenums was crucial", she continues, "we were able to bring citizens together, to try and make them active in politics again, to make their voices heard. It has not been easy, but it worked. For the first time in twenty years, citizens have demonstrated all together, they rediscovered solidarity. After the October general elections, nothing will be the same in the country".

A little more than half a year has elapsed from the big events of February, which many had hailed as a potential "Bosnian spring". Taking stock of those weeks is difficult: the plenums have not made themselves heard since May, the plenum of Sarajevo ("but everything is much more difficult in the capital", notes Ines, "everything has a different meaning here") has actually split into two groups. One of them – characterized by a more pronounced pro-Bosniak, anti-Dayton colouring – continues to preside daily the side-walk in front of the Presidency in groups of half a dozen people.

"We have had problems with them since the beginning", says the young activist, "with their ideas, with their with ljiljani flags [flags with lilies, used by the Bosnian Army during the war, ed.]". On August 25th, a group formed by these 'secessionists', gathered under the banner of 'Vijece graðana Bosne i Hercegovine' (council of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina), organized a protest in Sarajevo, in front of the office of the International High Representative. However, no more than twenty people attended.

Educating "a country under PTSD" to participation

If February's protests are going to impact on the upcoming elections, Ines admits that it is not clear what form these effects may take, given that the movement has always been extremely scrupulous in avoiding any contact with political parties and refused from the start to form its own. "There will be change, but it will not come from the ballots", she points out, almost paradoxically. “The legitimate question is that maybe we will end up with the dissipation of the political capital put together in recent months, the desire for a radical change. This could benefit the tandem between Željko Komšic (Democratic Front, DF) and Fahrudin Radoncic (Party for a better future, SBBBiH), who have based their election campaign on the sense of "otherness" and opposition to the pair formed by the Democratic Action Party SDA and the Social Democratic Party, SDP.

Of course, the DF and the SBBBiH are far from representing the "civic alternative" that the country would need, according to many activists.

"The DF has staged the largest stand comedy in Bosnia and Herzegovina ever", is the criticism raised by Valentina Pellizzer, also a representative of the plenums movement, who believes that the value of the 'Graðanski bunt', the citizen revolt, must be sought elsewhere. "What happened with the plenums in February was a miracle not only for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but – in a sense – for the whole world. This has been, as evidence shows, the only revolt that never resulted in violence, never became a Tahrir Square or Maidan. It showed a way to go for those who believe in non-violence even in the twenty-first century".

This experience may bear fruit more on an emotional, almost 'educational', rather than political level. "Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country that has lived in a state of post-traumatic stress disorder for decades. Citizens are terrified. Initially, no one wanted to leave their name, their contacts, nobody wanted to participate. What happened in February has been therapeutic in many ways. Participants went to meetings and talked about what had been hurting them for twenty years, which they had never had the chance to talk about".

The protest is dead, long live the protest

If the experience of the plenums now seems to be over as well as unlikely to visibly affect the next elections (scheduled for October 12th), it is also true that social discontent has not yet stopped in the country. Indeed, in recent weeks, new events – even if, for the moment, in a minor key – have shaken up the lives of Bosnian citizens.

In Tuzla, the industrial city where "everything had begun" at the time of last February's uprising, citizens took to the streets again. Gathered around the independent trade union 'Solidarnosti', they demonstrate to advocate for the rights of workers, especially those of some local businesses – in huge trouble after privatization processes that ended up terribly – who have now been left without wages or contributions, in many cases for months.

"Every week for more than six months, workers have demonstrated in the streets of Tuzla", explains Maja Nikolic on 'Radio Slobodna Evropa': "When the population took to the streets in February, many looked at Tuzla as the epicentre of a new beginning for the country. Three [cantonal] governments resigned, while citizens and workers created the plenums. Tuzla even appointed a technical government, headed by Bahrija Umihanic, who, however, apparently further worsened the situation. Instead of keeping the promises made to citizens, especially with regard to the solution of the difficult situation of the workers and the "revision of privatizations", it embarked on controversial bills like the one that eliminates public competitions for the recruitment of teachers in schools in the canton.

"So far, our cantonal government has done nothing but try to buy time until elections", tells Damir, of the plenum of Tuzla, to OBC. "Solidarnosti is an interesting experiment, a direct offshoot of the plenum of February. Workers were unhappy with official trade unions, which basically are nothing more than an emanation of political parties. So, they spontaneously created one that was not tied to any party and had the ambition to acquire a national size, without being limited to individual cantons or entities. These protests are important, claiming one's rights is the first step to return to play an active role in the politics and society of our country. Unfortunately", says Damir, "authorities are hampering in any way possible the registration procedures for the new union. They fear the anger of the workers".

 

Montenegro on the NATO ‘fast lane’ – Cardiff (Balkans Business News, 8 September 2014)

While attending the NATO Summit in Wales, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Igor Lukšic participated at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers with foreign ministers of aspiring countries – Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Georgia.

The meeting confirmed NATO’s commitment to the open door policy and voiced the Alliance’s readiness for enlargement when the countries meet the requirements.

Member-states’ ministers noted that Montenegro has made an impressive progress in implementing reforms and said that the June NATO ministerial meeting sent Montenegro a strong message of support by deciding to launch intensified and focused talks. The ministers were hopeful that Montenegro would continue its stable course of reforms and voiced their readiness to extend, if reforms are successful, an invitation for membership by the end of 2015 at the latest. They also stated that Montenegro is “on the NATO fast lane” and that they view it as the next Alliance member.

Minister Lukšic underlined that Montenegro views the Alliance’s decision to launch intensified and focused talks as a recognition of its hitherto efforts in the process of NATO integration, as well as an opportunity Montenegro will take to show its readiness for membership and secure and invitation by the end of 2015. He underlined that Montenegro views the intensified and focused talks as an excellent mechanisms which in the forthcoming year will be utilised to help implement reforms in the four key areas – reform of the security and defence sectors, boosting public support for membership, and the rule of law. He also noted that he expects with valid optimism that pursuant to its results Montenegro will become a NATO member at the forthcoming summit.

At the margins of the event the minister held a series of short meetings with his counterparts reports the Government

* * *

 

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.