SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, May 8 (Hina) - The Republika Srpska government authorities are exclusively responsible for last Monday's incidents and violence in Banja Luka. They must discover and punish the organisers and perpetrators,
officials of international organisations in Bosnia-Herzegovina claim. On the occasion of yesterday's incidents in which thousands of Serbs in the Bosnian Serb capital of Banja Luka on Monday prevented the laying of a foundation stone for the rebuilding of a mosque demolished in 1993, spokesman of the Office of High Representative Oleg Milisic said in Sarajevo on Tuesday that participants in the incident would immediately be arrested in a normal country. He added that violence on streets of Banja Luka was a bigger problem than the functioning of the local police. This is about the existing or non-existing of the political will of the Republika Srpska leadership to support the establishment of a m
SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, May 8 (Hina) - The Republika Srpska government
authorities are exclusively responsible for last Monday's
incidents and violence in Banja Luka. They must discover and punish
the organisers and perpetrators, officials of international
organisations in Bosnia-Herzegovina claim.
On the occasion of yesterday's incidents in which thousands of
Serbs in the Bosnian Serb capital of Banja Luka on Monday prevented
the laying of a foundation stone for the rebuilding of a mosque
demolished in 1993, spokesman of the Office of High Representative
Oleg Milisic said in Sarajevo on Tuesday that participants in the
incident would immediately be arrested in a normal country. He
added that violence on streets of Banja Luka was a bigger problem
than the functioning of the local police.
This is about the existing or non-existing of the political will of
the Republika Srpska leadership to support the establishment of a
multiethnic society in which law and order shall reign, Milisic
said. He confirmed the High Representative would personally insist
that Mladen Ivanic's government takes concrete actions.
Spokesman of the United Nations Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina
Douglas Coffman said the International Police Forces would conduct
a special investigation to establish a degree of the responsibility
of Republika Srpska police officials.
Republika Srpska Interior Minister Perica Bundalo and head of the
Banja Luka Police Vladimir Tutus tendered their resignations
Monday evening.
The statement issued after an extraordinary session of the
Republika Srpska government read that Prime Minister Ivanic would
decide whether to accept their resignations after additional
analysis and consultations.
Sarajevo media described Banja Luka's incidents as the most
dramatic incidents which occurred after the signing of the Dayton
Agreement. The front pages of all three Sarajevo dailies --
Olobodjenje, Dnevni Avaz, and Jutarnje Novine -- read about rage of
fascism and Serb Nacizm in Banja Luka.
All political parties in Sarajevo condemned the incidents in a
similar context.
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