Srpska Republika News Agency (SRNA), 97-09-12

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

SEPT. 12 1997 DAY

NEWS REVIEW, REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

BRCKO - The electoral material arrived in Brcko and will be secured in the "Partizan" sports hall in the centre of Brcko. The Local Electoral Commission told SRNA that there are 40,900 voters in addition to 3,619 false Muslim registrations. The voting technique will be the same as that of last year's elections, with one ballot box and one ballot with listing 21 political party registered for the elections in Brcko. Voters will mark one party from the list.

BRCKO - The president of the Local Electoral Commission in Brcko, Teodor Gavric, called all residents of Brcko to on September 13 and 14 "inevitably vote at the elections because every vote is of a key importance". While being guest of the local radio's special programme, Gavric assessed that the OSCE Mission chief Robert Frowick accepted additional 259 appeals by Serb voters who had to check their citizenship in the appellation process. Gavric appealed on those voters to visit the Local Commission in order to determine in which polling station they would vote.

BRCKO - Even though less than a day remained to the polling in RS and Federation of B-H, OSCE office keeps in highest secrecy the constituency data in this city. At a regular press conference of the international organisations, neither OSCE spokesmen from Tuzla Paul Hackens nor supervisor Robert Farrand did answer questions on constituency and ways of voting in Brcko, which prompted journalists to accuse the international community of keeping in secret the preparations for the elections so as to present the electoral results as it wants them as the "will of the people".

ZVORNIK - The head of the Public Security Centre (CJB) in Zvornik , colonel Dragomir Vasic, stated for SRNA that the security situation in the area of Birca is satisfactory, the contribution to which is also to be accredited to the local residents. He said that the reserve police units would be engaged to provide security during the polling at the local elections on September 13 and 14.

VISEGRAD - The Local Electoral Commission in Visegrad lodged a protest with the OSCE regional centre in Sokolac because 50 Muslim voters who moved from the municipality of Visegrad before 1991 were put in the lists and because of 178 Serb voters who were found on two voters lists due to computer error, which would probably disfranchise them because they will vote on invalid ballots.

BANJALUKA - In the Banjaluka region 132,409 voters were registered for polling at 91 stations. Total 36 political parties, one coalition and 12 independent candidates will run for the city assmelby.

BIJELJINA - About 84,000 voters were registered for polling in the Bijeljina area, out of which 67,000 in the municipality of Bijeljina and others outside RS. In this municipality, 17 political parties and one coalition from RS and four parties from the Federation of B-H registered for the elections.

BIJELJINA - Voters from Yugoslavia and abroad will have primacy on crossing the border in Raca, on the Pavlovica bridge near Popovo, and will be enabled quick crossing of the RS border.

HAMBURG - Excessively large number of voters to vote by absentia ballots and OSCE's changes to the Rules and Regulations made in the last moment cast shadow over the regularity of the local elections in RS and the B-H Federation, assesses the majority of German papers. The "Seudeutsche Zeitung" points out that the additional changes to the electoral rules give way to manipulations in favour of the Muslim party, while "Libeker Nachrichten" adds that the Serbs and Croats were in advance left without chances. "The US-controlled international community decided, in contravention of the Dayton agreement, to change electoral rules in order to impose political solutions required by the West, i.e. Americans", writes "Liberker Nachrihten, and adds: "This is the same way how the voters lists have been made leaving the organisers free hands to fix electoral results after the elections".

ATHENS - The local elections in RS and Federation of B-H have no significance for their results are already known, claims the International Crisis Group (ICG), which cooperated with the OSCE over the past year. It underlined that the elections were already carried out by determination of the voters lists in June. The ICG representative Chris Benet said that the political parties tried to secure as large mass of voters as possible in certain municipalities, so that they already knew the electoral results. "If some of parties decide to boycott the elections, it would be so because it already know for its defeat", Benet believes.

ZAGREB - The chief of the OSCE Mission in RS and the Federation of B-H, Robert Frowick, announced last night in Zagreb that the Croatian Democratic Party (HDZ) would take part at the local elections on September 13 and 14. "We reached an agreement which would allow the HDZ participation at the local elections", Frowick said after his meeting with the Croatian president Franjo Tudjman, high representative for RS and the Federation of B-H

Carlos Westendorp, Croat president in the B-H Presidency Kresimir Zubak and the HDZ head for B-H Bozo Rajic. Zubak said the decision should be verified by the HDZ this afternoon.

SARAJEVO - The OSCE de facto postponed the elections in the central mixed municipality in Mostar in order to persuade the Croats to take part at the elections, AFP reports. The high representative of the international community announced that this concession was made because of fears that in case of Croats boycott, Muslims might change the balance in their favour.

ROME - Supporting RS president Biljana Plavsic, the USA and NATO directly affected the results of the local elections, assess the Italian media. NATO secretary-general, Javier Solana, restated before his trip to Sarajevo that NATO will keep supporting the Plavsic-led Serb faction".

PARIS - "Figaro"'s correspondent Patrick Sen Paul claims that "even two years after the signing of the Dayton agreement, neither Serbs, nor Croats or Muslims want to live in co-existence in B-H - leopard fur country". He concluded that RS and Federation of B-H are two separate states, and assessed that each entity will vote for its own candidates.

SARAJEVO - The secretary-general of NATO Javier Solana and its commander Wesley Clark arrived to Sarajevo for discussion on the local elections in RS and the Federation of B-H. They met with the representatives of the Council of Ministers and OSCE.

SARAJEVO - The Council of Ministers of B-H adopted, at is session in Sarajevo, the Memorandum on Telecommunications and an agreement with the European Bank financing the telecommunications project. As announced yesterday, the Council agreed the Memorandum opening airports in Banjaluka, Tuzla and Mostar, and named a delegation to take part at the assembly of the World Bank and international Monetary Fund.

PRNJAVOR - Two years after the fall of Vozuca, on September 10, 1995, the fate of 200 missing Serb soldiers in still unknown, which is more than obvious proof that Muslim authorities try to hide the truth. Vozuca is top secret, and the public is familiar of the fact that other than Muslim Army members, the fall of "Serb Stalingrad" was due to participation of Islamic mercenaries, but also members of the units under official symbols of the international community, writes SRNA's Niko Djurc.

MOSTAR - A strong explosion was heard last night near the Franciscan monastery in the community of Pothum, reports Croatian Radio Herzeg-Bosnia. None was injured, but a great damage was caused to the monastery, according to the head of Mostar Police Direction Jadranko Lovric, who said that unidentified perpetrators threw the explosive device probably form a car running through the boulevard. The investigation was conducted by SFOR and IPTF.

BIJELJINA - The director of the RS Direction for Privatisation and Development, Aleksa Milojevic, stated in Bijeljina that 250 centres for privatisation in RS registered 650,000 or 70 per cent of citizens entitled to free distribution of state capital. The best turnout of citizens, over 80 per cent, was registered in Trebinje, Visegrad, Pale, Serb Sarajevo, Skolac, Dubica, Doboj, Srbac, Ugljevik, Gradiska, Nevesinje, Bileca and Ljubinje.

/end/

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

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