LOCAL PRESS

 

Serbian government fully devoted to EU path (RTS)

The Serbian government is fully devoted to the European path and strives to meet all its obligations in the accession process within the deadlines, it has been assessed at the government session that was attended by the Head of the EU delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport. The government has stated that considerable effort is invested in trying to keep the pace in the preparations to open the first negotiating chapters. It was noted that progress has been made in the implementation of the Brussels agreement and that the government is committed to solving the problems and providing the conditions for the survival, as well as stabilizing the situation in Kosovo and Metohija. The government has adopted the program for the allocation and use of the assets in assisting the returnee and endangered families in the province during 2015.

 

Djuric: Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija still not free (Jedinstvo/Tanjug)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric has warned that 11 years after the March pogrom the Serbs in the province are still not free, and he voiced hope that those responsible for such suffering of the Serb people will finally be punished. The Serbs do not enjoy the freedoms that people of the XXI century should enjoy, in the territory we will never recognize as a state, Djuric told Jedinstvo. According to him, the organized attack on the Serbs on 17 March 2004 was the shame of Europe and the entire international community, but also of those Albanian extremists who had supported that pogrom, and some even directly participated in it. Djuric reminds that five years before that fateful 17 March, hundreds of thousands of Serbs had been expelled from Kosovo and Metohija, and that the biggest towns in the province have been practically cleansed of the Serb population.

 

Djuric: Serbia in the political life of Kosovo and Metohija (Vesti/Tanjug/RTS)

The employees in the Serbian judiciary in Kosovo and Metohija will not stop working on 25 March, claims Marko Djuric, the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija. “The majority is willing since they live there and they know how important is the difference they can make by taking part in these institutions, how easier and better it would be to have Serb judges try Serbs, instead of Albanian and international as in the case of Oliver Ivanovic. They understand how important it is that a Serb will be the president of the new court,” Djuric explained in the interview to the Frankfurt-based Vesti. He announced that Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic, he and the heads of the judicial organs will talk with the people who should be working in the newly founded courts with a Serb majority in Kosovska Mitrovica. He stresses that courts in Kosovo have been an instrument of legalization of injustice on ethnic basis, which is sufficiently illustrated by 40,000 cases that confirmed without Serb participation pillage of houses and flats through fabricated court judgments. From now on, the judges that enjoy trust and who had worked in the Serbian system will be making decisions,” says Djuric. According to him, Serbian judges will be in Pristina since the basic court there is in charge of administrative and trade disputes. Part of the agreement encompasses that one part of Serbian judges sits in the Basic Court in Pristina as well. Serbian judges will be present in Serb units in Ranilug, Novo Brdo and Strpce. Djuric announced that he will request a revision of concluded trials to people whose rights were denied with forgeries. We will continue to support all people who are included in all forms of court trials in Kosovo and Metohija. The government is investing big money. Presently, 4,086 people in active cases have our financial, legal and logistic support. Of course, all our people are in a horrible situation since they are not before their institutions but on territory that is administered by a foreign army and foreign civil structures, and in such conditions a good part of the rights of these people had been denied,” said Djuric. In regard to the Union of Serb Municipalities (ZSO), Djuric says that the statute needs to be formulated, and that it will be proposed, according to the Brussels agreement, by the ZSO Management Team to the team for implementation. He says that there was much discussion on this topic and that we are actively fighting for the Union to be a body that has large, specific and tangible powers, since we believe that this is something that can ensure the survival of the Serb people. Djuric underlined that the ZSO statute is not a secret document and that the minute when political agreement is completed on how the ZSO will look like, this document will be something we can be happy about, we can give suggestions; we can value and assess it. Asked what he can specifically do for the Serbs in Kosovo, Djuric pointed out that there is around 1, 7 million people in Kosovo who consider that Serbia is not their state. There are international troops; there are no military and police forces of Serbia. The influence we have in Kosovo and Metohija is actually the remains of the remains of the state. By entering the provincial institutions, we are returning for the first time, through the big door, to the life in Kosovo and Metohija and resolving problems for the first time. If a car hits you in Urosevac, perhaps Marko Djuric will not be able to help you, but Branimir Stojanovic, who is the deputy premier of Kosovo, will be able,” explained Djuric. Belgrade’s political influence is larger in Kosovo and Metohija than at any moment since 1999, he points out. Pointing out that unity and discipline is needed, Djuric recalls that Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic requested unity from the Serb (Srpska) List because we were almost missing this unity in the past period. “I am faced with the fact that those who present themselves as political representatives are following all the time their interests instead of the interests of the Serb community. For many of them, money is the reason why they are where they are. We took over the responsibility to work with them intensively, and the Prime Minister also devoted a lot of time and energy for talks with them, to show them the way and to discipline some of the political representatives,” concluded Djuric.

 

KFOR: Cooperation has contributed to improved security (Tanjug)

The security situation in Kosovo has improved, KFOR Commander, Italian Major General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, has said. These achievements have been reached as a result of continuous endeavors and cooperation among all the parties involved in the normalization process, Figliuolo said after the meeting with the Chief of Staff of Serbian Army, General Ljubisa Dikovic. After the meeting, he affirmed the “constant and impartial efforts of the NATO mission in order to maintain a safe and secure environment and freedom of movement, thus creating the necessary conditions to help and support progress, democracy and modernization in Kosovo,” KFOR said in a statement. Figliuolo’s meeting in Krusevac was one in a series of top-level meetings with the highest-ranking officials of regional countries. At the end of the meeting, both generals confirmed that their cooperation will continue in the future, the statement said. The Serbian Army said in a statement on Friday that Dikovic and Figliuolo discussed the security situation in Kosovo and Metohija and along the administrative line, as well as past and future cooperation between the Serbian Army and KFOR. After the meeting in the Emperor Lazar army barracks, they took a tour of the Serbian Army’s CBRN defense training center. This was a high-level meeting of the joint commission for the implementation of the military-technical agreement comprising members of KFOR and the Serbian Army. The meetings are regularly held on various levels since 1999 with a view to fulfilling the military-technical agreement, the Serbian Army said.

 

Pristina continues with illegal privatization (Novosti)

The authorities in Pristina are trying to use the political vacuum, created after the departure of Kosovo Serb representatives, to continue with the illegal privatization in the Serb regions in Kosovo and Metohija. The Kosovo Privatization Agency announced that it will privatize by the end of the month nine premises of the former public company “Luks” in Kosovska Mitrovica, while a similar fate awaits the premises in Leposavic. The Serb politicians in the province say that at issue is the continuation of the pillage of Serbian property despite the fact that one of the essential items of the coalition agreement between the Serb List and the ruling Albanian parties is ceasing of unilateral privatization in the Serb regions. Goran Rakic, the Mayor of northern Kosovska Mitrovica, says that at issue is a dangerous precedent that is being repeated according to the already seen scenario: “Pristina thought of perfidiously completing the change of the ownership structure of the mentioned premises. This is occurring in the midst of the political vacuum because the Serb List had recently frozen participation in the Kosovo institutions. We will stop this privatization with all available means.” Dragan Jablanovic, the Mayor of Leposavic, recalls that the Kosovo Privatization Agency has already tried to conduct, without the knowledge of the local self-government, privatization of several companies and premises in this municipality. “Their representatives were inquiring about the premises of Jugobanka that works here, about the Department Store, the commodity reserves’ storage, i.e. 75 acres of storage place, and according to unofficial information, they tried to privatize “Universal” and some other premises,” says Jablanovic. “Still, they will not be able to conduct privatization because, according to the law on local self-administration, the property of the municipality over goods it possesses is undisputable.”

 

Branimir Stojanovic: We are not conditioning, but insisting on Union of Serb Municipalities (Radio Serbia, by Snezana Milosevic)

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister and one of the leaders of the Serb (Srpska) List Branimir Stojanovic denied that this coalition had conditioned their return to the provincial institutions with the establishing of the Union of Serb Municipalities. In an interview for the International Radio Serbia, he has said that this issue is in the focus of the Serb List, but such a condition has not been set, nor have any of the Serb political representatives mentioned it. “The Union is our priority and something that has to be done this year, so our responsible political actions will be directed at it, with our striving to make it happen as soon as possible,” Stojanovic said, while expressing expectation that the Albanian political elite will understand it and support the process, instead of sabotaging it. Speaking of the further steps of the Serb List, Stojanovic has stressed that those will depend on the conduct of official Pristina. “If their attitude toward us is changed in a positive manner and the Albanians show understanding, we will be making further decisions in cooperation with the institutions in Pristina. Otherwise, we will be forced to take the initiative in order to reestablish that cooperation. The Union is a necessity for us, but not just in a formal sense. We have a lot of unsolved problems in the field that cannot be addressed without the Union. Therefore, we will insist on that process to be started at the soonest, due to our existential needs,” our collocutor underlined. The Deputy Prime Minister of the Kosovo government adds that the Serb representatives will exercise their authorized power in voting to decide whether they will partake in something or not. “We will analyze what is important to us and what has to be done so that our people may live better. There are a lot of problems, but our decision in the forthcoming period will be united. Without that unity we have no chance to survive here in the years to come.” With regards to the tensions on the Kosovo political scene and the increasing pressure on the Serbs, Branimir Stojanovic emphasizes it is evident that those pressures only wind down during the direct dialogue of Belgrade and Pristina. “That is why for us it is important that the dialogue be intensive and the meetings as frequent as possible, regardless of how difficult the talks may be, just as long as there is communication. The system here is very indifferent to Serbs’ problems; our presence in the important bodies is very modest, especially in the security structure, police, judiciary etc. The situation is best in the Kosovo Police Service, but that is not enough, especially in the returnee Serb enclaves, where there are no Serb police officers. In basic courts there are almost no Serb judges, while in the higher judiciary bodies the situation is somewhat better. Due to all those problems we will seek to change the system, in order for our people to feel safer and live better,” Stojanovic concluded in his interview for Radio Serbia.

 

New symbols do not annul Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (Beta)

The caucus whip of the Democratic Party (DS) in the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina Borislav Novakovic has stated that the proposed symbols of Vojvodina do not annul the multi-ethnic feature of this province. “I disagree with the thesis that Vojvodina’s multi-ethnicity has been brought into question this way. Vojvodina’s multi-ethnicity is its constitutive and elementary feature that is embedded in a way in which Vojvodina and its institutions are functioning,” Novakovic told Beta. According to him, there is not one single law or bylaw in Serbia or in Vojvodina whereby its multi-ethnicity is threated or brought into question. Novakovic says that the solution that was offered for the traditional coat of arms and flag of Vojvodina, which will be displayed together with the existing Vojvodina symbols if the provincial assembly adopts the initiative of the Committee for the issue of Vojvodina’s constitutional-legal position at the session on Tuesday, was proposed on the basis of available historical material that is linked to the revolution in 1848. “The year 1848 is the year in which the Serb people won the church-school, i.e. cultural autonomy. At the same time, the Serb people helped other nations to win the same or similar autonomy,” said Novakovic. The Vice-President of the Vojvodina Assembly from the ranks of the League of Social-Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV) Dusan Jakovljev accused today the proponents of the traditional coat of arms and flag of Vojvodina that they want to change the civil and multi-ethnic face of Vojvodina and bring it down to national and ethnic. Jakovljev says that the problem also lies in the fact that the symbols declared “traditional” are not at all this, because it would have to be adopted institutionally as traditional, which it never was the case in history with the proposed flag and coat of arms. “These symbols were used from time to time in the middle of the XIX century, but they were never institutionalized. The only coat of arms and flag of Vojvodina are the ones that exist now and that were adopted by the Vojvodina Assembly, as the only authorized to do this, in 2002 and 2004,” explained Jakovljev. According to him, what was adopted as the proposal for the traditional coat of arms of Vojvodina is actually the coat of arms of the Principality of Serbia from the XIX century, which was minimally modified in the description. He added that Vojvodina’s history cannot be brought down only to the XIX century and the struggle of the Serb nation for autonomy inside the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, but one must also take into account the struggle of Vojvodina’s citizens in the XX and XXI centuries for their autonomy inside Yugoslavia and Serbia. The decision received the votes of the representatives of all parties in the Vojvodina Assembly, except for the LSV members of the Committee for the issue of Vojvodina’s constitutional-legal position. The initiative was launched by the opposition Democratic Party of Serbia, and professor at the Novi Sad Law Faculty Slobodan Orlovic, as one of the proponents of the initiative, voiced satisfaction with the fact that Vojvodina’s traditional coat of arms from the time of the “Serbian dukedom” in 1848, when Vojvodina was part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and the Serbian national flag, will be displayed in the future along with the official coat of arms.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

B&H has received the green light from the EU for the SAP (N1)

The EU foreign ministers gave the “green light” for the procedure of putting into force the Stabilization and Association Agreement for B&H and found that all conditions required for it are fulfilled. “The Council has determined that all of the requirements for the continuation of the procedure for the entry into force of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) are fulfilled,” it is stated in the conclusion of today’s meeting. In particular, the EU member states have expressed satisfaction for “Declaration", which was adopted on 29^th of January by the Presidency and signed by the leaders of the political parties in B&H. “The Council calls on political leaders in B&H to fulfill their obligations and continue to express their commitment towards the EU and work on the reforms necessary for positive movement towards the EU,” said the statement. Ministers also noted that the reform program, pledged by the B&H’s politicians, should be developed and implemented in cooperation with civil society, and that especially relates to economic and social reforms.

Conclusions:

- In the context of the conclusions of 15 December 2014. The Council welcomes the written commitment of the B&H Presidency and political leaders.

- The Council notes that the necessary conditions are met and in accordance with the conclusion which provides the entry into force of the Stabilization and Association Agreement with B&H

- The Council calls on the leaders of B&H to fully assume their responsibilities, including those relating to the upcoming adaptation of the SAA and to remain engaged with the European Union under renewed access and maintain the positive momentum to form an initial plan of reforms agreed with the EU. The reform program should be made in consultation with civil society, and should include reforms under the Copenhagen criteria and agreed issues that are dealing with the aspects of functionality (including the EU coordination mechanism). Significant progress in implementing the program of reforms, including the Agreement for growth and employment, will be necessary in order to apply for the membership which will then be taken into consideration by the EU.

 

Possible blockade of the House of Peoples (Srna)

The SNSD and DNS will decide today on how the Serb delegates from these parties are going to act in the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), and one possibility is the non-attendance of the House’s sessions. “The Republika Srpska (RS) President is going to host a meeting on how the Serb delegates from these parties are going to act in the House of Peoples of B&H, and one possibility is the non-attendance of the sessions of the House, which would mean that there is no quorum and that the session of the House will not be held as long as Sefik Dzaferovic is at the forefront of the House of Representatives,’ said the source from the SNSD.

The same source states that this is the most radical scenario, but sees no other way on how to maintain its politic regarding Dzaferovic dismissal from the position. Mladen Ivanic, the Chairman of the B&H Presidency and the PDP leader, believes that the SNSD should continue to participate in the work of the B&H House of Peoples, as the votes of their delegates have important role in protecting the RS interests. How the representatives of the SNSD and DNS are going to act will be known tomorrow, as the next session of the House is scheduled for Tuesday. The case of “Dzaferovic” or command Prosecution lack of implementation of the investigation against him was one of the themes of the session of the Central Committee of SNSD on Saturday, at which it was agreed that the B&H Prosecutor’s Office misused in office for only one policy. “Dzaferovic” case and Prosecutions decision on not pursuing the investigation against him was one of the topics at the Central Committee’s session of the SNSD, held on Saturday at which they agreed that the B&H Prosecutor’s Office is misused and is in service of only one politic. After the session of the SNSD Main Board, Dodik said that the Prosecutors statement, that the investigation should be dismissed was made at the beginning of Mirsad Kebo’s commencement of the evidence submission, which is sufficient proof that the decision on dismissal of the investigation was made before. Kebo as the Vice President of the FB&H submitted to the B&H Prosecutor’s Office several thousand pages of material about the crimes committed by members of the “El Mujahid’, and a part of the documentation is related to Dzaferovic, who was the chief of CSB Zenica at the time.

 

Dodik: We continue to be the strongest (Beta, Banja Luka correspondent)

The SNSD leader and the RS President Milorad Dodik said that the SNSD is still the strongest party and that it cannot be endangered by the intentions of foreign factors.

Dodik said after the session of the General and the Executive board in Banja Luka that the SNSD achieved a great victory at the last year’s elections, although it failed to achieve its goals.

After the elections the SNSD is again the ruling party in the RS, but it lost the power at the state level, as well as the position of a Serb member in the B&H Presidency. Dodik has confirmed that there are disagreements with the Vice-President of the SNSD Igor Radojicic in regard with the formation of governments at the state level, but denied speculation that Radojicic could be expelled from the party. According to him, “no one shall be expelled from the party, especially not from the highest positions, but is free to leave”. “Yesterday I spoke with Radojicic. We don’t have serious issues, but he has some disagreements with certain actions related to the formation of the government at the B&H level,” said the SNSD leader, when asked why is Radojicic not present at the session of the General and the Executive board. Asked to comment on the escape of a controversial businessman from Banja Luka Mile Radisic to Serbia, after he failed to report to serve a three-year prison sentence for manipulation during a privatization process, Dodik said that this is a matter for the courts and the police and that he has nothing to do with it. “It is inappropriate to ask me such a question. Why do you ask about Radisic? He’s not my responsibility. You’re trying to create a negative image of the RS judiciary. The government has no effect on the judicial system in the RS,’ said Dodik. President of the RS and the SNSD leader added that he has some information about it, but has no intention of discussing it with the reporters. Dodik said that the recent presence of the Vice-President of the SNSD Nada Tesanovic at the session of the Croatian National Congress (HNS) in Mostar, at which the declaration which advocates the territorial reorganization of B&H and the maintaining of Dayton 2 agreement was adopted, is “a private decision and that her vote doesn’t do harm to SNSD”. “She informed me that she will go to the Parliament. She didn’t say they will be voting or how she will vote, but it does not matter,” said the leader of the SNSD. Dodik has made a number of allegations about the work of Oslobodjenje’s correspondent from Banja Luka for asking the questions in relation to Nada Tesanovic and the HNS.

 

B&H Journalist Association strongly condemns RS President’s verbal attack on Oslobodjenje reporter (Oslobodjenje)

The board of the Association of B&H Journalists and Reporters’ Helpline sent a strong protest to Milorad Dodik for spreading hate speech and misogyny against reporter Gordana Katana, Oslobodjenje’s correspondent in Banja Luka. At a press conference held 14 March in Banja Luka after a session of the SNSD board, Milorad Dodik, in a vulgar, nationalistic and male chauvinistic way, reacted to legitimate reporters' questions about events in the party, as well as the avoidance of a three-year prison sentence and escape from RS of Mile Radisic, a local tycoon and close friend of Dodik’s. Milorad Dodik once again demonstrated hate and a pathological anger toward our colleague Katana just because she was doing her job professionally and she is a woman. Speaking vulgarly and racially about the reporter's appearance, national affiliation and media for which she works, the RS and SNSD president brutally violated the right of Gordana Katana to freely and with dignity perform her reporter's work, publically spat on her national and female human rights, and with it showed that he has a discriminatory relationship toward Oslobodjenje, whose reading he has personally banned in public institutions. The presidential position in the RS and the SNSD gives Dodik’s primitive outburst additional weight and puts a serious test to the institutions of government in the entity and the SNSD membership – whether they will peacefully and opportunistically watch the collapse of the reputation of RS institutions and political parties in the framework of BiH and the entire world, or will they react with condemnation of such behavior? If the SNSD members, public organs of government in RS, the Gender Center and other institutions for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms do not publicly distance themselves from Dodik’s statement. The Association for Social Research and Communication (UDIK) sharply condemns the verbal attack by RS President Milorad Dodik on reporter Gordana Katana. This is not the first case of arrogant behavior with which Milorad Dodik has prevented reporters from doing their jobs in peace and dignity, thereby violating the basic postulates of freedom, democracy and human rights, and destroying the reputation of the institution of the RS presidency. Milorad Dodik, the President of one of the leading political parties in B&H, with his attack on Gordana Katana public put out what sort of treatment reporters in this country can expect in the future. The attack on Gordana Katana we experienced as an attack on the entire journalistic community in B&H.

 

Nasa Stranka: Ethnic parties create favorable conditions for extremists (Oslobodjenje)

Nasa Stranka considers it destructive that the B&H public is sentenced to silently observe the gathering of extremists like the gathering of the Chetnik guerilla movement in Visegrad, at which they openly called for violence, glorified war criminals and crimes, and announced new ones. “It is destructive that not one of the coalitions that have ruled this country since the war till today has succeeded in making a legal framework that would prohibit the operating of this and other extremist organizations that call for violence and hate across B&H,” said Predrag Kojovic, the Vice-President of Nasa Stranka, reads the party statement. “These and similar hateful ideologies have found fertile soil only where there is general poverty and hopelessness, and we can rightly ask whether we in fact are headed toward economic collapse ‘according to plan’ in order to create 'favorable' conditions for extremism and a new escalation of violence,” says Kojovic. Nasa Stranka believes that the introduction of such gatherings “is always present with the consent of political elites, because such events really are conducive for them to maintain an atmosphere of fear and interethnic tensions”. The statement says that Visegrad in the past year has often been a subject due to cases in which local government has not shown understanding for action against incitement of hatred. “When government shows with its example that it is possible to violate basic civilizational values of human and civil rights without sanctions, this is really an invitation to extreme elements of society to intensify their activities, because there is apparently no liability for the consequences of spoken words, as there wasn't in the 1990s,” concludes Kojovic.

 

Serge Brammertz visiting B&H (Oslobodjenje)

The Hague Tribunal’s Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz will visit Sarajevo, Zenica and Banja Luka from 16^th to 18^th of March. The purpose of Brammertz’s visit to B&H is a series meetings with the entity judicial authorities during which they will discuss the prosecution of war crimes cases and issues of common concern, said the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Brammertz will meet with the Presidents of the Supreme Courts, Chief Prosecutors and directors of training centers for judges and prosecutors in B&H. Hague Chief Prosecutor will meet with representatives of several associations of victims in Zenica and Banja Luka. rammertz has been invited to give a lecture during a visit to university students in Sarajevo and Zenica, where he will speak on the subject of constant challenges of international criminal law. Brammertz visit to B&H and the rest of the region comes in preparation for the report that is going to be submitted to the Security Council of the United Nations in following months.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

FIBA grants Kosovo full membership, Serbia unhappy (Reuters, 14 March 2015)

BELGRADE - World basketball's governing body FIBA has granted Kosovo full membership amid Serbia's request to make sure that clubs or national teams from the two countries never meet at any level. "The decision comes on the back of the International Olympic Committee granting full recognition to the Kosovo Olympic Committee in December 2014," FIBA said on its official website (www.fiba.com). "As a result of Friday's decision, FIBA Europe will now work towards incorporating the national teams of Kosovo in its competitions beginning this summer." More than 100 countries have recognized Kosovo as an independent nation but Serbia refuses to follow suit on its former southern province. Although the Serbian basketball association acknowledged Kosovo's recognition by FIBA was imminent, it said playing against the Kosovans should be avoided. "We expect FIBA to take seriously our warning that matches at any level, club or international and ranging from youth to senior, should be avoided at all cost," it said.

 

Interview: Serbia says Russia ties don't hamper OSCE role (AP, by Dusan Stojanovic, 13 March 2015)

BELGRADE, Serbia Serbia's foreign minister said Friday his country's close ties with Russia are not hampering Belgrade's chairmanship over the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe which has a key monitoring role in Ukraine. Ivica Dacic told The Associated Press in an interview that Serbia's close-knit relationship with traditional Slavic ally Russia "most certainly is not a handicap" when it comes to remaining unbiased in the Ukrainian crisis. Dacic said "even the Ukrainian foreign minister told me ... they see it as an advantage if it is used for de-escalation" of hostilities. Serbia took over the OSCE chairmanship in January amid some concern in the West because of Belgrade's refusal to impose Western-backed sanctions against Moscow over its role in Ukraine.

Related

Serbia's Foreign Minister and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-office for 2015 Ivica Dacic speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, March 13, 2015. Dacic told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that Serbia's relations with Slavic ally Russia "most certainly are not a handicap" when it comes to remaining unbiased in the Ukrainian crisis. | Darko Vojinovic AP Photo Ivica Dacic , Serbia's Foreign Minister and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-office for 2015 , speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, March 13, 2015. Dacic told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that Serbia's relations with Slavic ally Russia "most certainly are not a handicap" when it comes to remaining unbiased in the Ukrainian crisis "Many have said that it will be a big challenge for us," Dacic said. "Our role is not to take sides, but to help achieve goals that the OSCE has in the conflict areas, one of which is Ukraine." Dacic said that Serbia has learned lessons from the 1990's war in the former Yugoslavia, which could be of help in finding a solution to the Ukraine crisis. Over 100,000 people died and millions were left homeless in the bloody breakup of the Balkan federation. "The experience that we have means that we understand the nature of the conflict and the importance of reaching a compromise in time before the war escalates beyond limits and becomes hard to stop," Dacic said. Ukraine placed a formal request Friday with the United Nations for a peacekeeping mission to be deployed in its eastern regions, where a cease-fire between government troops and Russian-backed separatist forces is in place. Dacic said "for now, the main course of action is to strengthen the OSCE mission on the ground. No other options are being considered at the moment." He spoke a day after OSCE extended its monitoring mission in Ukraine from six months to one year and said it may increase the number of monitors from 500 to 1,000 if it gets access to various war zones in the east. He said the decision "opens a new stage" for the OSCE mission in Ukraine — "the only international presence in the country, which makes it even more important."

 

Macedonia’s Gruevski rallies supporters, defies opposition (EurActiv, 16 March 2015)

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski rallied support yesterday (15 March), amid growing pressure over opposition accusations that his government organised widespread wiretapping, and rejected demands for early elections. Last month, Macedonian opposition leader Zoran Zaev accused Gruevski's conservative government of wiretapping at least 20,000 people, including politicians, journalists and religious leaders. Facing mounting international and domestic pressure to respond to the claims, Gruevski on Sunday hit back by accusing the opposition of "attempting to destabilise the country on behalf of a foreign state," but named no particular country. In January the government filed a complaint against Zaev and several other people for espionage and violence against officials. The opposition leader denied the accusations. European Union officials have expressed concern over the "deteriorated political dialogue" in Macedonia, and called for a thorough investigation. Addressing some 7,000 supporters in a sports hall in Skopje, Gruevski also rejected Socialist opposition demands to form a transitional government and call early elections. "We always believed that the people give the mandate and legitimacy through elections, and the people choose who will form the government and who will not," Gruevski, who has been in power in the landlocked nation of two million people since mid-2006, told the crowd. Earlier on Sunday, Zaev called on Gruevski to resign, form an interim government and organise "fair and democratic" early elections. The Socialists have been boycotting the parliament since April 2014 early polls, protesting alleged electoral fraud. Regular legislative balloting in Macedonia is due in 2018. The former Yugoslav republic was granted EU candidate status in 2005, but has yet to obtain a date for the start of accession talks.

 

Hooligan Attack Raises Ethnic Tensions in Bosnia (BIRN, by Elvira M. Jukic, 16 March 2015)

Five young people were injured when a bus carrying teenage players from a football club from a mainly Bosnian Croat town was attacked in the predominantly Bosniak capital. Ethnic tensions escalated in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the weekend after the junior players from the southern town of Siroki Brijeg were assaulted by a group of football hooligans in Sarajevo. The incident took place on Saturday afternoon, when the youth-team players from Siroki Brijeg boarded their bus to go home after matches against Sarajevo’s FK Zeljeznicar. The players from Siroki Brijeg told local media that they were approached by a group of hooligans who came out of a nearby café. The hooligans first called them derogatory names sometimes used to insult Bosnian Croats, then attacked them with baseball bats and iron bars. One of the Zeljeznicar players tried but failed to protect them, they said. Five players suffered minor injuries and the bus was slightly damaged, the Siroki Brijeg club said in a statement on its official website. No arrests have been made so far. Both teams said the attack was unacceptable. “Siroki Brijeg football club strongly condemns this incident in Sarajevo, expresses displeasure about the fact that the health and security of our youngsters was jeopardised, and demands the swift identification and punishment of the perpetrators,” the club’s statement said. “We strongly condemn such acts … and we clearly state that we stand against any violence on the streets,” said FK Zeljeznicar in a statement on its website. As a precaution after the attack, Zeljeznicar fans from Sarajevo were not allowed to attend a league match between the first teams from the two clubs in Siroki Brijeg on Sunday. No major incidents were reported during the game. In a separate incident in the Serb-dominated town of Doboj over the weekend, unknown persons sprayed graffiti saying “Slaughter Balije [a derogatory term used for Muslims], both young and old”, local media reported on Monday. The graffiti was signed by “Vojvode [Dukes] 1990” – a fan group from the local football team FK Sloga Doboj. Fights among football hooligans are not rare in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in a number of cases, such violence was directly caused by the ethnic tensions that still persist in Bosnia, almost two decades after the end of the war. For this reason country's Football Union has on several occasions penalised teams by ordering them to play in empty stadiums. One of the worst such examples in the last few years was a clash between hooligans in Siroki Brijeg in October 2009, when a FK Zeljeznicar fan, Vedran Puljic, was shot and killed and several other people were injured. To underline the absurdity of this situation, Puljic himself was a Bosnian Croat who was rooting for the Sarajevo team. His killer was identified and detained, but was then allowed to leave custody and escape to Croatia, where the authorities pressed charges against him a few weeks ago.

 

Confusion After Bosnia Arrests Explosives Smugglers (BIRN, by Elvira M. Jukic, 16 March 2015)

Bosnian police said the five arrests were terrorism-related but officials in Sweden, the suspected destination for the improvised explosive device, said it was linked to gangland crime. Bosnia’s State Investigation and Protection Agency, which arrested the five suspects, said they are suspected of constructing a remotely-activated explosive device in Bosnia, which they planned to smuggle to Sweden for use in terrorist activities. The suspects, including four Bosnians and one Swedish citizen of Saudi descent, were arrested by SIPA on Friday in a joint operation codenamed ‘Benelux’, involving Bosnian, Dutch and Swedish police. Three were arrested as they tried to leave Bosnia by car, and police found a hand-made explosive device in their vehicle. The other two were arrested in the capital Sarajevo. However, media quoted Swedish officials as saying that the explosive device was not intended to be used in terrorist activities but in a fight between criminal groups. SIPA officials refused to comment on this. The Bosnian public prosecutor’s office announced on Sunday that it would seek a custody remand for the five suspects pending further processing of the case.

 

US to back Montenegro in final stage of its NATO integration (NEOnline, 16 March 2015)

During his working visit to the United States, Montenegro’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Igor Luksic visited Washington, where he met with Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department Victoria Nuland. Nuland reiterated the United States’ commitment to assisting Montenegro in the final stage of its NATO integration process in terms of implementing the objectives set by the end of this year and stressed importance of continuing implementation of priorities in the key areas.

Luksic pointed to the progress Montenegro has made in the four key areas within its Euro-Atlantic agenda, including the rule of law, reform of military and security sector, emphasising importance of the assistance the US provides to Montenegro in that regard. He said that the start of the intensified and focused dialogue, as well as results of the reforms having been implemented, testify to clearly recognised progress Montenegro has made. “There is a strong commitment to fulfill all the prerequisites in order to get the membership invitation by the end of 2015. We believe that Montenegro’s accession to NATO is a guarantor of stability in the Western Balkans and is also relevant to NATO’s open door policy,” Luksic said. He also presented Montenegro’s vision on how to resolve the Prevlaka issue, hoping the current dispute regarding Sutorina will be resolved as quickly as possible by signing an agreement on establishing border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, on which the two countries had agreed earlier. It was noted that strengthening economic ties among the Western Balkan’s countries and promoting investment cooperation through using the existing mechanisms within the regional initiatives should take central stage in the years ahead.

 

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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.