BOSNIA NEWS

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – By stating that the Bosnian Foreign Affairs Minister Sven Alkalaj (who is a Bosnian citizen of Jewish origin) is a “minister whom no one needs”, the Bosnian Council of Ministers Chairman Nikola Spiric (who is a Bosnian citizen of Serbian origin) has entered the darkness of chauvinism and anti-Semitism the like of which has long not been seen in the Bosnian state institutions, a member of the Bosnian Presidency Haris Silajdzic’s Cabinet stated.Silajdzic said that Minister Alkalaj is a Bosnian citizen whose ancestors came to Bosnia back in the 15th century finding refuge from intolerance similar to that which Spiric is demonstrating more than five centuries later.

Spiric’s statement implies that Alkalaj is a second class citizen in Bosnia. It rekindles views that those who cannot or wish not to be fenced within the national boundaries “are not needed by anyone”.

“Things need to be described for what they are. Forces that truly wish a democratic order in which everyone, regardless of their religious, national or any other background can be elected, and forces that are trying to maintain the discriminatory mono-ethnic territories are opposed in Bosnia,"Silajdzic said.

“Minister Alkalaj certainly needs Bosnia, because he is with his own example and work fighting for the preservation of the Bosnian state authorities in a situation when the RS (the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia) and its officials are trying in every possible way to undermine those authorities”, Silajdzic’s Cabinet stated.

ZENICA,Bosnia - A Bosnian court banned yesterday some 3,300 workers at Bosnia's largest steel maker, Mittal Steel Zenica, from continuing a general strike, saying the union had failed to meet all legal conditions for the action.

Workers at Mittal Zenica, a unit of the world's biggest steel maker Arcelor Mittal , on Wednesday launched the largest strike Bosnia has seen since the 1992-95 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions, halting production by a major exporter.

"The accused, the Union of Metal Workers of Bosnia, Mittal Steel Zenica branch, is banned from organising and proceeding with a general strike," said the verdict of the Zenica court.

The court said the union failed to keep an agreement with management on the obligatory number of workers who must stay on the job to maintain the production process.

The union did not provide evidence that it had proceeded according to the law in the procedure of organising and announcing the strike, the verdict added.

Mittal Zenica management said the company, with an annual production capacity of 800,000 tonnes of metal, was losing 500,000 euros ($685,400) a day because of the strike.

The court dismissed a management bid to declare the strike as unfounded, which may permit the union to correct the illegalities and restart the strike.

Neither the management nor union leaders were immediately available for comment.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia –“Promotion and Development of Alternative Ways of Caring for Children without Parents in Bosnia” is a project aimed to reduce the number of children at orphanages. This is a USAID implemented and US government-financed project.

Agreement on Grants for implementation of the project worth USD 71.000 was signed in Sarajevo by USAID representatives, Save the Children NGO and the three local NGOs – Altruist from Mostar, Prosperity Association from Zenica and ToPeer from Doboj. They will, in cooperation with the centers for social work, implement the projects in these cities.

Bojana Matic, Save the Children manager, emphasized that the three NGOs were chosen among 30 candidates. They will realize the project in the following year in order to provide care for the children in the following year.

USAID Director Jane Nandy said that the main goal of the project is to enable a happy childhood for the children without parental care.

She expressed hope that it is only the beginning of a process which will result in the realization of the main goal – to have every child growing in a family environment.

Save the Children Regional Director for SE Europe Timothy Bainbridge emphasized that improving the children’s living standards is not only an issue for experts.

He said that the project is aimed to help the children who are not able to grow up with parents. Save the Children believes that every child should grow up with parents and that institutions should always be only the last option.

Bainbridge emphasized that prevention of separation of children from parents should be made a priority. “It has been estimated that there are about 30.000 children in risk from being separated from their parents at the area of this project’s implementation”, Bainbridge warned.