Bosnian town hopes to cash in on pyramid

By AIDA CERKEZ-ROBINSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

VISOKO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Restaurants serving meals in triangle-shaped plates. Artisans crafting wooden key-chains in the shape of pyramids. Shopkeepers hawking T-shirts saying "I have a pyramid in my backyard."

Pyramid-mania has taken hold of this small Bosnian town as residents seek to cash in on claims by an archaeologist that it may host Europe's only ancient pyramid.

"Our expectation are high. This could be our oil well," Vehab Halilovic, who has started carving pyramids on wooden souvenirs like flutes and pipes.

No pyramids are known in Europe, and there are no records of any ancient civilization on the continent ever attempting to build one.

However, Bosnian archaeologist Semir Osmanagic - who has spent the last 15 years studying the pyramids of Latin America - claimed last year that there is evidence of one here in his Balkan homeland and conducted some research on the site.

He plans to carry out new excavations this week on a hill overlooking Visoko that may definitively prove or disprove his theory. Osmanagic says the hill has four perfectly shaped slopes pointing toward the cardinal points, a flat top and an entrance complex.



Under layers of dirt, Osmanagic found a paved entrance plateau, underground tunnels and stone blocks.

Osmanagic believes the hill was shaped by the Illyrian people, who inhabited the Balkan peninsula long before Slavic tribes conquered it around A.D. 600. Little is known about the Illyrians, but Osmanagic thinks they were more sophisticated than many experts have suggested.

Halilovic, who has been making wooden souvenirs for 30 years, says his last big windfall came during the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo when he sold souvenirs with Olympic motifs.

After the 1992-95 Bosnian war, he started making souvenirs for NATO peacekeepers. As Bosnia stabilized, the number of soldiers decreased and Halilovic's market shrank.

Then came the pyramid theory.

"We are people who adapt fast," he said, after testing a few tones on a new flute.

Another resident, Esef Fatic opened a souvenir shop two weeks ago and sells pyramids made of clay and wood and slippers displaying a pyramid.

"We already have buyers. Business is better since this pyramid story started. If scientists really confirm our hill is a pyramid, this place will become alive. People will come from all over the world," he said.

One local hotel called Hollywood has changed its name to Motel Bosnian Sun Pyramid.

Its Web site boasts: "While enjoying your meal in our restaurant placed on the 6th floor, you have the opportunity to also enjoy a magnificent view of the Sun Pyramid. You too can be part of the mystery and the miracle occurring in our area."

Satellite images show two more pyramid-shaped hills with 45-degree angled slopes, indicating three possible pyramids around Visoko - which were quickly named the pyramids of the Sun, Moon and Dragon.

The possibility that the hills are not ancient pyramids is not even considered in Visoko.

"The question whether there is a pyramid or not is not being asked," Senad Hodovic, director of the local museum. "People here believe there is one, are excited about it."

Danish artists protest Mladic

BELGRADE -- Two Danish artists have countered pro-Mladic propaganda posters on the streets of Belgrade.

Originally, posters distributed and plastered by the clero-fascist organisation Obraz showing support for Hague fugitive Ratko Mladic appeared on walls and building around Belgrade.

Light blue stickers were stuck on these posters today which read “we know that your nerves are frail” and “we know you are a coward,” which were put on the posters by two Danish artists.

According to the Associated Press, the two artists, Jan Egesborg and Pia Bartelsen, wanted to show disapproval of the trend of painting Mladic as a Serbian hero who protected Serbs during the war in Bosnia.

“Our message is that it is over and that there is no escape for him.” Egesborg said.

Ties Between The U.S. And Croatia Excellent - State Department

The relations between the United States and Croatia are excellent and the two countries closely cooperate in a series of matters, a senior official of the U.S. State Department said in Washington on Thursday.
The relations between Croatia and the United States are excellent, said Rosemary DiCarlo, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, while responding to questions by Croatian reporters.

In the context of the close bilateral cooperation, she said that Croatia was a very good partner in Afghanistan and that the United States were grateful for the job the Croatian contingent had done there.

Commenting on the December 2005 apprehension of the retired Croatian general Ante Gotovina, who had been wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal, DiCarlo said that this marked the improvement of the relations between Croatia and the United States.

I believe that with the arrest of General Gotovina, Croatia has really turned a new page, DiCarlo said.

She assessed that Croatia was making good progress on its road towards the European Union.

The U.S. official praised Croatia's efforts to develop good relations and cooperation in southeastern Europe.

She dismissed some speculation that Croatia's refusal to sign an agreement with Washington on non-extradition of U.S. citizens to the International Criminal Court was an obstacle for improving relations between Zagreb and her country and that it was a reason for not so strong support of the United States to Croatia's bid to join NATO.

Article 98 is not a precondition for a candidate's admission to NATO, she explained adding that the conclusion fo the agreement, however, was a requirement for U.S military assistance.


Friday , 14 April 2006

Croatian News Agency-HINA

US envoy says Kosovo talks to end in 2006

Pristina, April 15 (AP): A U.S. envoy in talks on Kosovo's future said on Friday that the province's disputed status should be resolved in 2006.

U.N.-mediated talks began in February in Vienna, Austria, toward deciding whether Kosovo should become independent or remain part of Serbia.

``It remains the firm view of the United States that the final status of Kosovo must be achieved, and achieved this year,'' said Frank Wisner, a U.S. diplomat assigned to help U.N. envoys in negotiations.

``And when it's achieved, to leave the region more stable, more prosperous and a region that will be integrated into Europe,'' he said.

The negotiations _ also involving Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership and Serb officials from Belgrade _ aim to resolve Kosovo's status while protecting the rights of its Serb minority and preventing its internal territorial division.

The next round of U.N.-mediated talks is scheduled for May 4.

While praising the work of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian negotiators, Wisner said he would push them on the subject of protecting minority rights, as well as cultural and religious sites. On Saturday he planned to visit the 14th-century Decani Monastery, a Serb Orthodox site.

Kosovo's Serbs have refused to participate in local institutions since a brief period of ethnic violence targeting them and their property in March 2004. A key aim of U.N. negotiators is to give Serbs a voice in Kosovo and reinvigorate its decrepit economy before any possible independence.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, who comprise about 90 percent of the population, want independence for the tiny province, formally part of Serbia-Montenegro. Serb leaders insist on maintaining at least some control over Kosovo, and want the province's minority Serb communities to have more autonomy.

Kosovo has been a U.N. protectorate since 1999, when a NATO air bombardment stopped a crackdown by Serb forces on ethnic-Albanian separatists.

Wisner on Thursday visited neighboring Macedonia in an attempt to build ``support for final status of Kosovo'' in the region.

Tadic and Radicals lead opinion polls

10:44 April 13

NOVI SAD -- If presidential and parliamentary elections were held, Boris Tadic and the Serbian Radical Party would win.

According to a recent poll by the Scan agency in which 1,700 citizens from all around Serbia were polled, Serbian President Boris Tadic would receive 30 per cent of the votes, and Radical Party leader Tomislav Nikolic would receive 28 per cent.

In third place is Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica with 6.7 per cent of the vote and Power of Serbia Movement leader Bogoljub Karic is in fourth with 4.4 per cent.

Of the people interviewed, 45.9 per cent would definitely participate in elections, 21.3 per cent said that they probably would and 10.5 per cent of the surveyed said that they would not vote.

The political party with the most support is the Serbian Radical Party, who have the support of 32.5 per cent of those interviewed. Tadic’s Democratic Party would receive 26.3 per cent, while Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia is backed by 7.5 per cent of the Serbian citizens, according to Scan Director Milka Puzigaca.

-B92