BOSNIA NEWS

SARAJEVO,Bosnia - The continued existence of “two-schools-under-one-roof” defies Bosnian state laws and international commitments Bosnia has entered into, warned the OSCE Mission to Bosnia.

OSCE spokesperson Mersiha Causevic-Podzic stated that the majority of these 54 "two-schools-under-one-roof" are located in ZDC (Zenica-Doboj Canton), CCB (Canton Central Bosnia) and HNC (Herzegovina-Neretva Canton). Such schools were meant to be an interim solution that would merge into single schools over time.

The international community never intended for such schools to become a permanent feature of the Bosnian educational landscape, emphasised Causevic-Podzic.

Also, the OSCE Mission stressed that once Bosnia became a member of the Council of Europe, it committed itself to ending segregation in its schools.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia - The office of the international community's high representative in Bosnia (OHR) is concerned over a series of inflammatory statements made by the political leader of the Serbians living in Bosnia, Milorad Dodik, over the last few days, and in particular during an interview he gave on 20 August 2007. His statements questioning the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia are detrimental to the country’s ongoing efforts to continue reforms and integrate into Euro-Atlantic institutions,OHR stated.

The PIC Steering Board, at its last session in Sarajevo on 19 June 2007, made clear that the International Community stands united: it will not tolerate any attempts to undermine the Dayton Peace Agreement and it will not remain passive in the face of provocative statements and acts,OHR said.

Bosnia is an internationally recognized state and political representatives in Bosnia, in their statements and acts, are obliged to uphold the constitutional order of Bosnia. OHR notes that Dodik signed a solemn declaration in advance of the October 2006 elections that commits himself and his party to “fully comply with the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia” and to accept sanctions if he fails to abide by its terms.

Milorad Dodik is the chairman of the SNSD, a political party whose members exercise important executive responsibilities at the Bosnian state level, both in the Presidency and in the Council of Ministers of Bosnia. As such,he should act with the appropriate deference for those responsibilities.He should consider carefully whether he wishes to challenge the International Community by statements that question the constitutional order of Bosnia and the Dayton Peace Agreement,the OHR stated.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia - Croatia won against Bosnia 5-3 in an entertaining friendly yesterday at the Olympic Stadium Asim Ferhatovic Hase in Sarajevo,although the game was marred by crowd trouble before and during the match.Five fans were injured and 15 were arrested several hours before kick-off while visiting Croatia supporters poured into the Sarajevo city centre.

Trouble also erupted early in the second half, when riot police moved in to prevent the 1,000 visiting Croatian supporters from clashing with the Bosnian fans and forced them into a stampede across the terrace.

Police then had to fend off home fans who tore down a metal fence separating them from the visitors and charged into their sector.

Two goals apiece from captain Niko Kovac and midfielder Darijo Srna and a fifth by Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva gave Croatia the win against their neighbours, whose striker Zlatan Muslimovic scored a hat-trick.

Croatia dominated proceedings from the start and Eduardo gave them a deserved 18th minute lead when he powered home a header from 10 metres after some good work and a pinpoint cross by Igor Budan.

Srna made it 2-0 in the 35th minute with a superb goal after controlling a long cross-field pass by Jurica Vranjes, cutting inside a defender and coolly slotting the ball past the advancing keeper.

Zlatan Muslimovic pulled one back for Bosnia against the run of play two minutes later, giving Vedran Runje in goal no chance with a venomous shot from 25 metres into the top right corner.

In front of a crowd of 20,000 passionate fans, both sides missed several chances in the second half before a frantic 11-minute spell produced five goals. Muslimovic drew level for the home side in the 70th minute when he turned in a free kick floated in from the left, only for Croatia to restore their two-goal lead within three minutes.

Srna set up Kovac to head the ball into the bottom right corner and then turned scorer when he drilled in a low shot from 10 metres after a superb piece of individual play.

Muslimovic completed his hat-trick barely a minute later when he latched on to a long clearance and lobbed the onrushing keeper and Kovac then capped the scoring with a piledriver from 25 metres.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia - A special commission of the Bosnian government has almost completed a revision of citizenships granted to foreign citizens during the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia, Bosnian daily Dnevni Avaz reported yesterday quoting a commission official.

The head of the commission, Vjekoslav Vukovic said that the Bosnian government had so far revoked 500 citizenships, while additional checking was underway for another 60 cases.

Most of the people with the revoked Bosnian citizenship - a total of 330 - have not been living in the country for several years already, he said.

The rest of them received the decision that their Bosnian citizenship had been revoked, but they used legal instruments to try to change the Bosnian government's decision and stay in the country, Vukovic said.

Citizenship was revoked mostly from people from countries - like Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey - who came to Bosnia to help Bosnians fight against the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions.

Most of them decided to stay in Bosnia after the war, where they later married Bosnian women and formed families.A number of them also came from some Eastern European countries, like Russia.

The commission was given a mandate until February 2008 and would continue to work, but the focus would now be on the citizenships granted to people from the former Yugoslav republics, Vukovic said.

It is believed that 15,000 Bosnian citizenships were given to people from the former Yugoslav republics.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia - The Dutch government donated yesterday in Sarajevo 1.6 million euros (2.1 million US dollars) for different projects to support the work of Bosnia's judiciary. Dutch ambassador to Bosnia Karel Vosskuhler and the head of the Bosnian High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council Branko Peric signed a contract by which the Dutch government provided about 1.53 million euros for information and communication technologies of the country's judiciary.

The donation should help modernize Bosnia's judiciary and should increase efficacy and transparency of its work until the end of 2010.

Dutch ambassador Vosskuhler signed another donation of 215,000 euros to finance the work of two experienced investigators of The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), who should help investigations related to the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

The genocidal Serbian aggressor murdered up to 8,000 Bosnian men and boys after they captured the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July, 1995,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Besides the latest donations, the Dutch government donated some three million euros for different projects to support the work of Bosnia's judiciary.