1 November 2006

Associated Press, Banja Luka reports interview with RS premier Milorad Dodik in which he rejects the idea of uniting B-H police forces as required for EU entry, saying: ‘If we have to choose between the EU and the police force of RS, we’ll choose the RS police’; Dodik has insisted on remaining RS premier, despite intense international pressure upon him to take the post of B-H premier, following his success in the October elections.

Following the referendum on a new constitution held in Serbia on 28/29 October, it is announced that, out of an electorate calculated without some two million non-registering Kosovar Albanians, 54.9% turned out to vote for a new constitution proclaiming Kosova an inalienable part of Serbia

3 November 2006

Official visit to Montenegro by Kosova premier Agim Çeku leads to Serbian protests, especially when his Montenegrin hosts refer to Kosova as a neighbouring country

6 November 2006

Željko Komšić, Nebojša Radmanović and Haris Silajdžić take office as the Croat, Serb and Bosniak members respectively of the new (and still ethnically based) B-H presidency

8 November 2006

Serbian assembly formally adopts a new constitution, which inter alia allows a new electoral law to be passed opening the way for new parliamentary and presidential elections, and also proclaims Kosovo an inalienable part of Serbia.

9 November 2006

Serbian parliamentary elections are called for 21 January 2007, upon which Martti Ahtisaari announces that he will present his proposal for resolving the status of Kosovo only after the elections have taken place

27 November 2006

At a ceremony at a barracks in eastern Holland, minister of defence Henk Kamp unveils a plaque praising the Dutch battalion stationed at Srebrenica in 1995 and awards medals to 500 of its soldiers - provoking a strong protest from B-H authorities in Sarajevo

Branimir Glavaš, long-stannding political strongman of Slavonia, accused of involvement in the murder of Serb civilians in the early nineties, is remanded in custody at Osijek following a vote by the Croatian sabor to lift his parliamentary immunity

25 November 2006

As in previous years, Bosnia-Herzegovina’s state day is celebrated in the Federation, ignored in RS

30 November 2006

NATO invites Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia to join the Partnership for Peace, despite the failure of Bosnia-Herzegovina (or rather RS) and Serbia to cooperate fully with the Hague tribunal

30 November - 3 December 2006

New Bosnian Cinema festival organized by The Bosnian Institute takes place at Riverside Studios, London in partnership with Sarajevo film festival

12 December 2006

Raids in six states in the USA net 19 B-H citizens who served in the RS army during the war, concealed the fact when they entered the country, and are suspected of possible involvement in war crimes

As reported by Reuters, a new study compiled by B-H experts estimates the damage caused by the Serb nationalist siege of Sarajevo at 14 billion Euros

14 December 2006

B-H joins the Partnership for Peace

4 January 2007

B-H Presidency nominates economist Nikola Spirić to head new coalition government

5 January 2007

Agreement is reached on division of ministerial posts in new B-H coalition government, with the mediation of the US embassy

19 January 2007

RS premier Dodik sells 65% of state-owned Telekom Srpske to Telekom Srbija

21 January 2007

Parliamentary elections in Serbia: of 250 seats in total, Radicals (SRS) won 81 seats, Democrats (DS) 64 seats, National coalition (DSS/NS) 47 seats, G17 Plus 19 seats, Socialists (SPS) 16 seats, Liberal-Democrat coalition (LDP/GSS/SDU/LSV) 15 seats, Hungarian party 3 seats, Sandžak list 2 seats, two Roma lists and Albanian list from Preševo 1 seat apiece

25 January 2007

EU High Representative Christian Schwarz-Schilling abruptly announces his (clearly enforced) resignation, less than one year after taking up his appointment, following widespread dissatisfaction with his tenure

26 January 2007

UN special envoy for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari presents his plan for resolving the status issue to the Contact Group; the plan will next be delivered on 2 February to Belgrade and Prishtina, before being taken to the Security Council

5 February 2007

RS premier Dodik sells majority shares in sole B-H oil refinery at Bosanski Brod, lubricant producer Modrica and fuel retail chain Petrol to Russian state oil firm Zarubezhneft

9 February 2007

New B-H government takes office, with Nikola Spirić as premier, Sven Alkalaj as foreign minister  

26 February 2007

ICJ delivers a controversial (and contradictory) majority ruling in the case brought against Serbia by Bosnia-Herzegovina (see articles in this issue of Bosnia Report)

1 March 2007

As in previous years, Bosnian-Herzegovina's independence day is celebrated in the Federation, ignored in RS

2 April 2007

Two influential groups of Serbian NGOs appeal to the EU to maintain its insistence that Serbia comply with the requirement to cooperate fully with the Hague tribunal

7 April 2007

A formal merger is concluded between Serbia’s Liberal Democrats and Civic Alliance

10 April 2007

Prison sentences of 20 years are handed down by a Belgrade court to two members of the ‘Scorpion’ unit that murdered 6 Bosnian civilian prisoners at Trnovo in July 1995, while a third is sentenced to 13 years and a fourth acquitted for lack of evidence

14 April 2007

Unknown attackers make an attempt in Belgrade on the life of prominent Vreme journalist Dejan Anastasijević - who reported on the recently completed ‘Scorpion’ trial, and was also a prosecution witness at the trial of Slobodan Milošević - hurling a grenade through his bedroom window as he sleeps

16 April 2007

Geoffrey Nice, former prosecutor (2002-2006) in the ICTY case against Slobodan Milošević, publishes an open letter in the International Herald Tribune criticizing Hague chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte for agreeing unilaterally to a request from Belgrade that parts of the documentation supplied by it to the Tribunal should be sealed

20 April 2007

In a shoot-out with Serbian special forces at a village near Novi Pazar in Sandžak, one member of a Wahabi group allegedly planning terrorist acts is killed, one wounded and a third arrested

29 April 2007

Ivica Račan, leader since 1989 of the Croatian Social Democratic Party (former League of Communists) and prime minister of Croatia 2000-2003, dies of cancer

8 May 2007

Serbian parliament elects Radical leader Tomislav Nikolić as speaker, with the support of outgoing premier Vojislav Koštunica. Provoking strong international condemnation, the move is perhaps a tactical manoeuvre in power struggle between Koštunica’s DSS and president Boris Tadić’s DS that has prevented formation of a new coalition government since January elections. At all events, a last-minute coalition agreement is now reached, leading to enforced resignation of Nikolić on 12 May and formation of a government before the constitutional deadline on 15 May: Koštunica remains premier, but Tadić gains more control over intelligence services, while DS member Vuk Jeremić becomes foreign minister

23 May 2007

Twelve defendants, including Milorad Ulemek Legija, receive heavy sentences for direct involvement in the murder of Serbian premier Zoran Đinđić, although the political principals behind the assassination remain unidentified