INTERNATIONAL MEMBERS CONFIRM WITHDRAWAL, BEĆIROVIĆ MISLED PUBLIC

SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 26 /SRNA/ - International members of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of BiH have confirmed that UNESCO suspended their further participation in the Commission's work.

"UNESCO has informed me and Francesco /Italian professor Francesco Bandarin/ that our work in the Commission has been suspended due to internal problems on your side, following a letter of complaint from one of the Commission members," Professor George Okello Abungu of Kenya, one of the Commission's two international members, wrote in an email. Abungu said their participation would resume only after the internal issues had been resolved. "I am therefore afraid that we will not be available until UNESCO informs us. You may check with UNESCO in case you have not been notified. Many thanks, George and Francesco," the September 7 email said. This formally confirmed that UNESCO had suspended its participation in the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, a BiH institution established under Annex Eight of the Dayton Agreement, the Istraga portal reported. According to the same source, both international members withdrew until BiH resolves the problems which, the portal said, were caused by the actions of BiH Presidency Chairperson Denis Bećirović. The Serb member of the BiH Presidency Željka Cvijanović had previously said that the Commission's international members had withdrawn, while Bećirović's office claimed that this was not true. His office told Radio Free Europe that the BiH Presidency had adopted a decision appointing new members and that the Commission had begun operating. "But the email in Istraga's possession, in which Abungu writes that UNESCO informed him it was suspending its work 'because of internal problems in BiH' raised by 'one member of the Commission,' also confirms that Bećirović lied in his statement to Radio Free Europe," the portal wrote. The same source reminded that in January the Bosniak member of the Presidency initiated a procedure to adopt a decision on returning foreign members to the Commission to Preserve National Monuments. Then-chairperson of the BiH Presidency Željko Komšić warned that launching such a procedure could jeopardize the Commission's work because, if UNESCO decided to withdraw from participation, the entire process could be blocked. However, following pressure from the parties of the "Troika", Komšić supported Bećirović's proposal, after which the BiH Presidency adopted the decision by outvoting Serb member Željka Cvijanović. At the end of June, based on that decision, the BiH Presidency appointed members of the Commission, again by outvoting Cvijanović. Cvijanović then invoked the protection of a vital entity interest, and the Republika Srpska National Assembly supported her veto by a two-thirds majority. As a result, the Secretariat of the BiH Presidency refused to publish the decision appointing the Commission members in the Official Gazette of BiH, stating that, because of Republika Srpska's veto, the decision had not entered into force. Bećirović then turned to the Constitutional Court of BiH, arguing that Cvijanović had no right to invoke the protection of a vital entity interest because the decision did not fall within the domain of foreign policy, while Cvijanović maintained that appointing foreign members /UNESCO/ made the matter one of foreign policy. In the end, UNESCO representatives withdrew pending resolution of the issue, which means that the Commission to Preserve National Monuments no longer exists in practice, Istraga reported. "The decision appointing new members did not enter into force. And even if it had, there would be no quorum because Republika Srpska has not appointed its representative and UNESCO has withdrawn its two representatives. So, of the five envisaged members, only two are 'in'. This is a direct consequence of Bećirović's actions, even though he was warned about this scenario back in January," the text pointed out.