BOSNIA NEWS

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The Mayor of Sarajevo Semiha Borovac and the Spanish Ambassador to Bosnia Jose Castroviejo y Bolibar signed an agreement on reconstruction of the Bosnian National Library in the amount of EUR 1 million.

Mayor Borovac said that the Spanish Ministry of Culture representatives visited Sarajevo in the mid-February and were introduced to the project documentation. They decided to finance reconstruction.

Ambassador Bolibar emphasized that the Spanish Ministry of Culture understands that the National Library is a very important part of the people’s lives.

He added he is aware of the fact that the Bosnian National Library was built in the pseudo-Moor style but that the government of Spain is not making any parallels to the Alhambra.

As soon as the documentation is completed, reconstruction will begin.Mayor Borovac said that the documentation will be completed by the end of September. Project documentation will cost 900.000 Bosnian Marks (BAM), and the city and canton have already ensured BAM 400.000 each. Old Town municipality ensured BAM 100.000. Borovac also announced that Hungary is willing to help the reconstruction.

Mayor also announced that an expert conference will be held to discuss the Bascarsija candidacy for the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Housed in a handsome Moorish-revival building,originally built in the late 19th century as Sarajevo's town hall (Vijecnica) ,the Bosnian National and University Library held an estimated 2 million volumes, among them 155,000 rare books, unique archival collections, 478 manuscripts, the Bosnian national collection of record of all the books, newspapers and magazines published in Bosnia, books published abroad about Bosnia's history and culture, as well as the central research collections of the University of Sarajevo.

In a three-day inferno (August 25-27, 1992) the library building was completely, gutted, the greater part (more than 90%) of its irreplaceable contents reduced to ashes. About an hour after nightfall on August 25th, a concentrated barrage of incendiary shells fired by the Serbian aggressor,the Bosnian National Library burst through the roof and the large stained-glass skylight, setting the book stacks ablaze. Repeated shelling kept rekindling the fire, while snipers, mortar shells and anti-aircraft guns fired at sidewalk level shredded fire hoses and targeted firefighters and volunteers attempting to save the books.

The Serbian aggressor in the hills ringing Sarajevo peppered the area around the library with machine-gun fire, trying to prevent firemen from fighting the blaze along the banks of the Miljacka river in the old city. Machine gun bursts ripped chips from the crenellated building and sent firemen scurrying for cover. Mortar rounds landed around the building with deafening crashes, kicking up bricks and plaster and spraying shrapnel.

Braving a hail of sniper fire, librarians and citizen volunteers formed a human chain to pass books out of the burning building to trucks queued outside. Interviewed by a television camera crew, one of them said:

"We managed to save just a few, very precious books. Everything else burned down. And a lot of our heritage, national history, lay down there in ashes."

Among the human casualties was Aida Buturovic, a 32-year-old librarian in the Bosnian National Library's international exchanges section; she was killed by a mortar shell as she tried to make her way home from the library.

Amidst the carnage caused by the intense bombardment of the city by the Serbian aggressor, her death went unnoted except by her family and colleagues. Bosnia's Ministry of Health reported on August 26, 1992, that 14 people had been killed and 126 had been wounded in besieged Sarajevo during the preceding 24 hours.

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SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The Bosnian governments adopted the Bill on Internal Audits of the Bosnian Institutions funded from the Bosnian state budget and the public companies in which the Bosnin state is the majority shareholder, which is a law from the European Partnership and will be forwarded to the Bosnian Parliamentary Assembly.

Aim of the Law on Internal Audits is to establish an effective system of internal audits in the Bosnian public sector organizations in line with the government structure and requirements of the public sector organizations.

The Bosnian Council of Ministers has defined the Bill for concluding the basic c010ontract between the Serbian Orthodox Church and Bosnia.

“I think it is good that we have adopted the Bill today. We also expect the draft decision on relations between the Bosnian Islamic Community and Bosnia on the agenda, as well as the documents on relations of other religious communities, especially the Jewish Community in Bosnia”, Bosnia's Prime minister Nikola Spiric told a press conference.

The proposal contract regulates that the restitution of immobile properties or nationalized commodities confiscated without the appropriate compensation, including the deadline of their return, would be conducted in line with the law that will regulate the matter of restitution in BiH. A relevant commission would be formed comprising the representatives of both sides. This issue has been regulated in an agreement with the Holy See in the same manner.

The Council of Ministers also debated the Report on state of the Bosnian foreign debt concluded with 2006.

According to the data of the Bosnian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the state of Bosnia's foreign debt on the day December 31 2006 is estimated at approx. 4 billion Bosnian Marks (2,7 billion US Dollars).

The Council of Ministers did not accept the Report of the OSCE Representative for Freedom of the Media on freedom of the media in Bosnia.

Spiric expressed hope that the future talks “would result in the finding that we cannot change those reports, but that we must accept them as they are and fulfill Bosnia.s commitments in regard to this problematic”.

The Bosnian government also appointed the members of the Governing Board of the Bosnian Missing Persons Institute.

The members are: Jasminka Dzumhur, Ivo Juricevic, Brano Dursun, Jadranka Durakovic, Zoran Perkovic and Dusan Sehovac.

“We this we have created the conditions for making progress in this sector with support from the international donors”,Spiric said.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The OSCE Mission to Bosnia, in co-operation with the Kid’s Festival, is starting to promote a new campaign involving the promotion of the culture of reading - “Read Bosnia”. The festival is taking place in Sarajevo from 8-14 June 2007.

At the Kid’s Festival a “Read Bosnia” corner, stocked with popular children’s classics from all over the world, will serve as a promotional platform. Every day from 14:00 through 16:00 hours, ambassadors and popular Bosnian figures will read from their favourite childhood books. The list of guests includes Ambassador Douglas Davidson, Head of OSCE Mission, Matthew Rycroft, Ambassador of Great Britain, Jiri Kudela, Ambassador of the Czech Republic, Grujica Spasović, Ambassador of Serbia, Jose Maria Castroviejo y Bolibar, Ambassador of Spain, as well as local celebrities like Amel and Kice, Deen, Nensi Abdelsaki, Alma Dautbegović, Lejla Rarić and Lilo, and Alma Čardžić.

At the close of each day, all child-participants will have the opportunity to select a book of their choice from the OSCE "Read Bosnia" library. Titles include foreign books and books from Bosnia: The Vizier‘s Elephant by Ivo Andric, Pinocchio by Carlo Coludi, One Thousand and One Nights, Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales, Masked Ball in the Forest by Nasiha Kapidzic-Hadzic.

The goal of this campaign is to promote the culture of reading and of a common culture, as well as to help Bosnia become more “open” to the cultural influences of both its immediate neighbours and more distant countries.

Reading inevitably helps children and adults find their place in the society. It provides them with a tool for expressing their thoughts and feelings, as well as for articulating their ideas about the world. It helps to mould an informed and engaged citizenry, one that is called for in a democratic society. The OSCE Mission to Bosnia will continue to promote the culture of reading amongst children, youth, parents, teachers and citizens throughout 2007,the OSCE Mission to Bosnia said.