Bosnia: Croats: Hard liners warned against setting up their own mini state скачать в хорошем качестве

Bosnia: Croats: Hard liners warned against setting up their own mini state

(8 Mar 2001) Serbo-Croat/Nat International officials warned on Thursday that further action would be taken if Bosnian Croat hard liners tried again to set up their own mini state in areas under their control. "Of course we do have a strategy for various cases," said Alexandra Stiglmayer, the spokeswoman for Bosnia's top international official, Wolfgang Petritsch. But she refused to elaborate on the measures. On Wednesday, Petritsch removed the top leadership of the hard-line Bosnian Croat Democratic Union, or H-D-Z, for acting against the constitution and jeopardising the 1995 Dayton peace accord which ended the three and one-half year Bosnian war. The agreement divided the country into two halves, one controlled by the Bosnian Serbs and the other shared by Muslims and Croats. The H-D-Z was the driving force behind last weekend's declaration of self-rule in Bosnian Croat areas, in effect the establishment of a third, Croat mini state in Bosnia. One of the removed party officials, Ante Jelavic, also lost his job as member of Bosnia's collective presidency. The Parliament now will have to choose another Bosnian Croat among the lawmakers to replace him. Jelavic and his hardline party, the Croatian Democratic Union, claimed they acted because they felt discriminated against in the bodies they share with Bosnian Muslims. But the international officials believe the Bosnian Croat hard liners wanted to promote their dream of annexing parts of Bosnia they control to Croatia proper. Immediately after the dismissal was announced, H-D-Z officials said they would ignore Petritsch's decision and go ahead with the establishment of their mini state. "We believe in the necessity of the project of Croat self-governance," Marko Tokic, one of the dismissed vice-presidents of the party, told the Sarajevo daily Oslobodjenje. In an interview last night with a local radio in the southern city of Mostar - the stronghold of the hard liners - Tokic said the implementation of the project will start on Monday. Both the H-D-Z as well as international officials said they do not expect any unrest in the country, although previously they had mentioned such options. In their declaration of self-governance, the Bosnian Croats also included a provision to transfer authority over the Bosnian Croat armed forces from the Bosnian Croat member of the state presidency to the leadership of the future mini state. The armed forces of the Muslims and the Croats are currently loosely melted into one army under NATO monitoring. Jacques Klein, the head of the U-N mission in Bosnia, which is supervising and monitoring local police, said all police officers in the country "are bound by the rules of their profession to execute their duties and responsibilities in a nonpolitical manner." According to the peace agreement, in case of trouble in Bosnia, Petritsch can request the assistance of the international police and NATO peacekeepers. There are 20,000 armed NATO led soldiers and 1,700 unarmed foreign police officers in Bosnia. SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat) "When the 16th day expires, we'll declare our self rule. I don't have to explain the procedures but we will go ahead with this. There's nothing more to add." SUPER CAPTION: Marko Tokic, Vice-President H-D-Z SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat) "We, Croats, we just demand respect for our rights. We don't want the country with Muslim domination. If Republika Serbska gets separated, we should as well.' SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop, Old Woman SOUNDBITE: (English) SUPER CAPTION: Alexandra Stiglmayer, O-H-R Spokesperson SOUNDBITE: (English) Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...