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STORY: UN / BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA WRAP
TRT: 3:06
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 24 MAY 2010, NEW YORK CITY
RECENT 2010, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
24 MAY 2010, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council meeting
3. Cutaway, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Valentin Inzko, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina:
“The country is facing problems that urgently need to be solved –but the fact is that it has come a long way and we should use this progress as an incentive to complete the work which remains ahead.”
5. Cutaway, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Valentin Inzko, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina:
“References to the possible “emergence of a new state”, and proposals that nationalist politicians should start discussing the ‘peaceful dissolution’ of Bosnia and Herzegovina or that the country should not exist at all have been met by counter-statements to the effect that the disaffected elements are ‘welcome to leave’, but will not be allowed to take any part of the country with them.”
7. Cutaway, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Valentin Inzko, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina:
“With great difficulty the relevant authorities are striving to meet the IMF terms for a euros 1.2 billion Stand-By Arrangements; at the same time, generous development assistance continues to come from the World Bank, the EU and other international financial institutions and bilateral donors. However, none of the key reforms that will allow the country to take full advantage of this assistance, and which will revive the economy and reverse the decline in employment and living standards, has been enacted during the reporting period.”
9. Wide shot, Haris Silajdzic approaches microphone
10. Cutaway, cameramen
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Haris Silajdzic, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina:
“This is why I belief that the article one is in danger because the article one says that Bosnia and Herzegovina continues in the Dayton Agreement continues as a state under the international law so if a state continues as a state under international law then its quite clear that it continues with its rights and obligations, and within its rights is of course its right to its property. It’s being questioned and since this article is very important it is also important to say that this article cannot be renegotiated. This is questioned by our opposition, my opposition in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and lately by the High Representative and this why I said today that this should not be questioned and no one has mandate to question it”
12. Wide shot, Ban Ki-moon and Haris Silajdzic photo-op
13. Various shots, Ban Ki-moon and Haris Silajdzic luncheon
14. Wide shot, Ban Ki-moon and Valentin Inzko photo-op
15. Various shots, round table
The United Nations (UN) High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina told the Security Council today (24 May) that the country is facing problems that needed to be urgently solved.
He added the country “has come a long way and we should use this progress as an incentive to complete the work which remains ahead.”
At the opening of his statement to the Council members, High Representative Valentin Inzko congratulated the country on the 18th year of its admission into the UN.
Inzko said that the country’s current membership in the Security Council was the greatest and most visible reflection of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s new standing in the international community.
He added that recent visits to Bosnia and Herzegovina by senior politicians and officials from the European Union, United States and elsewhere reflected international interest in the country but also incited concerns over the country’s failure to take advantage of the possibilities that were now open to it.
He said although there was a lack of consensus over what type of country “it should be or could be”, the leadership of the Republika Srpska had led the way in undermining state-level institutions by threatening to hold an entity referendum that would seek to repudiate the authority of the high representative and decisions under Dayton.
Inzko said that references to the possible ‘emergence of a new state’, and proposals that nationalist politicians should start discussing the ‘peaceful dissolution’ of Bosnia and Herzegovina had been met with counter-statements saying that the “disaffected elements were welcome to leave but will not be allowed to take any part of the country with them.”
At a time when Bosnia and Herzegovina’s unemployment rate continued to rise, living standards continued to fall and the capacity of the authorities to meet the basic needs of citizens had been “systematically eroded by declining revenue.”
Authorities also found themselves striving to meet the International Monetary Funds terms for a Euros 1.2 billion Stand-By Agreement. At the same time, Inzko said that generous development assistance continued to come from the World Bank, the EU and other international financial institutions but none of the reforms that would allow the country to take advantage of those benefits had been enacted during the reporting period.
Following the meeting, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Chairman of the Presidency Haris Silajdzic met journalists and told them that he believed that article one of the Dayton Agreement was in danger. He said that that article established that Bosnia and Herzegovina continued as a state under the international law and that included its rights and obligations “and within its rights is of course its right to its property.”
Silajdzic said that the article was being questioned by the opposition, “and lately by the High Representative.”
Later in the day, both Silajdzic and Inzko met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
