Srpska Republika News Agency (SRNA), 97-08-06

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From: The Serbian Unity Congress Server at http://www.suc.org

AUG. 6 1997 DAY

NEWS REVIEW, REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

SOKOLAC - The relations with SFOR have been to some extent normalised, stated major-general Vinko Pandurevic, deputy head of the VRS General Staff, but remained cautious that the multinational forces, under the cover of respect for freedom and human rights, might try to impose conditions which are not called for under the Dayton agreement. "However, I am encouraged by their attitude that all means should be used in peace maintenance efforts", stated Pandurevic for Radio-Romanija and the Sokolac Newspaper.

SARAJEVO - SFOR spokesman, John Blackley said the traffic blockade in Doboj and last night's low and disturbing flights by SFOR aircraft above Pale were a part of "regular training activities", thus denying that these were related to the tracing for persons listed at public and sealed lists of war crimes indictees issued by the Hague Tribunal. OSCE spokesman David Foley, stated that one should not be arrested during the election process, except the persons listed on the Hague Tribunal's warrants. As for the OSCE arms reduction programme, Foley said that 68 tenks, 9 carriers and 202 artillery peaces destroyed in RS, and 535 mortars destroyed in the B-H Federation, represent only 30 per cent of arms reduction carried out in the second phase of the programme.

DOBOJ - The SFOR Nordic-Polish Brigade, spokesman Arthur Bliski, confirmed that the members of this Brigade stationed in the mobile check point in the community of Rudanka, five kms from Doboj, yesterday "carried out a routine control", not revealing details of the real blockade of the city. "Daily tasks are set by the Brigade commander Jacob Karsten Muller", added Bliski, and said he was not provided with all information. Early yesterday morning, SFOR members blocked all roads towards Doboj, and checked all vehicles and passengers.

BRUSSELS - The Belgian papers conclude that despite obvious impatience and anxiety, the international community has a very limited manoeuvre space to force the Serbs, Croats and Muslims to live together, because they evidently do not want this, but rather seek division. Financial pressures and blackmails have no reasonable prospects of bearing results, while SFOR and IPTF presence cannot be possible for a longer period of time, comment the majority of Belgian pepers. SFOR and IPTF high officials, who spoke under condition of anonymity, stated that "division will come about peacefully or otherwise, i.e. through a renewed armed conflict".

AMSTERDAM - Insistence upon the return of refugees and arrest of war crimes indictees, being the two essential elements for the creation of the unitary B-H, is not a new idea - it just waited for the right moment, stated deputy US foreign minister John Shattuck for the Dutch paper "Volkstrant". While revealing for the first time all complexity of the Dayton agreement, Shattuck clarified: "The Dayton agreement was not deemed to be a blitz operation. It is a long-lasting movie, which started by putting the signatures on the Dayton paper and by separation of the warring factions, which was imposed by a strategical necessity of the moment, while the authors of the Dayton agreement even then planned to start the integration of the entities by the creation of the joint institutions, in the second phase of the implementation".

BRCKO - The president of the Provisional Electoral Commission (PEC) in B-H, Robert Frowick promised the new processing of 3,500 appeals of Brcko residents, at his yesterday's meeting with a delegation of Brcko. He also promised to meet with the Electoral Appellation Sub-commission, which rejected the 3,550 appeals of the displaced Serbs, now residents of Brcko, and announced that the PEC would address this problem again.

BRCKO - The PEC president Robert Frowick will announce tomorrow his decision on the appeals on 3,500 Serbs who are denied their right to vote at the local elections, stated Mladen Bosic, president of the Brcko Board of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS). "This is alarming situation, for the votes of 15 per cent of disfranchised Serbs can be decisive for the outcome of the elections and future arbitration over Brcko, as well", warned Bosic, and expressed his hope that following today's talks with the Electoral Appellation Sub-Commission, Frowick's decision would be fair.

BANJALUKA - Both Yugoslavia and RS have their own legal institutions which should rule if someone had committed war crimes in the war in former Yugoslavia, believes the Socialist Party for RS. The US envoy for the former Yugoslavia, Robert Galbard's threats to Belgrade with reimposition of sanctions unless war criminals are not delivered and RS forced to do the same, the Party's vice-president Dragoljub Trivanovic commented: "eventual culprits should stand trial here, in our countries".

BANJALUKA - The president of the Serbian Radical Party for RS, Nikola Poplasen, warns that "the USA and its special envoy for B-H Robert Galbard ask that Yugoslavia carry out aggression against RS". Galbard's threat with sanctions against Serbia if Milosevic does not press RS to hand over war crimes suspects to the Hague Tribunal was assessed by Poplasen as a classical blackmail.

BANJALUKA - The president of the Democratic Party for Banjaluka and Krajina, Nikola Spiric, announced that, pursuant to the results of the local elections, the Coalition for Banjaluka will make an initiative for the formation of the community of municipalities in the Banjaluka area. Spiric said that the community of municipalities would be formed of the municipality of Banjaluka and neighbouring municipalities of Laktasi and Celinac, and would be financed by the city rent, which is a proved and modern concept in the world.

BEOGRAD - The vice-president of the Democratic Party, Slobodan Vuksanovic, said in his comment to threats with the sanctions against Yugoslavia, that "the highest price of the reimposition of the sanctions would be paid by the innocent people." "The international community should end the bargaining over the Dayton agreement with Slobodan Milosevic", said Vuksanovic.

PALE - The president in the B-H Presidency for RS, Momcilo Krajisnik, received the members of the RS karate team, who made success at the European Karate Championship in Peruge, winning a golden and silver medal and the eighth place among teams. Krajisnik said that "sportsmen are our best ambassadors, that is why they had bigger responsibility at the Championship."

/end/

From the Serbian Unity Congress Server at http://www.suc.org

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