BOSNIA: SERBS: CRISIS скачать в хорошем качестве

BOSNIA: SERBS: CRISIS

(6 Mar 1999) Serbo-Croat/Nat Bosnian Serb officials have threatened to boycott their duties and hardliners have called on supporters to resist two rulings that have left the Serb-run half of Bosnia in crisis. The turmoil followed two controversial rulings on Friday by the senior international official for Bosnia, Carlos Westendorp. He transferred the strategic city of Brcko from exclusive Bosnian Serb control and fired the hardline Bosnian Serb leader Nikola Poplasen. Thousands of supporters of the ultra-nationalists took to the streets of Brcko on Saturday to protest the rulings. They accused Westendorp and the West of being determined to destroy the Bosnian Serb sub-state. Announcing his rulings, Westendorp had warned of likely "turbulence" for the next several days - and turbulence is what he got. The Brcko ruling sparked the resignation of the Western-backed Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik. Bosnian Serbs see the town as a five kilometres (three mile) lifeline between the eastern and western parts of their territory. Although disappointed by Dodik's decision, a spokesman said Westendorp was hopeful that the prime minister would reconsider his surprise decision. In another setback for Westendorp, Poplasen announced he would not stand down. He called the resignation order "undemocratic and contrary" to the Dayton peace agreement" and called for a referendum to decide whether he should remain in office. The sacking order had followed Poplasen's efforts to remove the pro-Western Dodik. Westendorp had urged Poplasen to renounce his intention to discharge Dodik, who is a supporter of the ex-president of the Bosnian Serb republic, Biljana Plavsic. The political crisis worsened late on Saturday with the announcement that several officials, including the Bosnian Serbs' member on the joint federal presidency and all 11 of their federal lawmakers - were either suspending their duties or quitting. With tension increasing in Bosnia, peacekeepers have stepped up security. Extremists have already vowed revenge after U-S peacekeepers based at Tuzla shot and killed a local party official in nearby Ugljevik. SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat) "This is the moment when I want to announce I'm putting a moratorium on all my duties until the assembly of the Republic of Srpska makes another decision." SUPER CAPTION: Zivko Radisic, Serb member of Bosnia's presidency SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat) "I want to send a public appeal to all members of the contact group to reconsider the implementation of the Dayton Agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina." SUPER CAPTION: Zivko Radisic, Serb member of Bosnia's presidency SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat) "Since September last year we were constantly as the government of the Republika Srpska obstructed in every way from making decisions and making a friendly and democratic atmosphere. But anyway we tried everything to leave Brcko in the Republika Srpska. I feel fully responsible and for that reason I am resigning from the position of Prime Minister of the Republika Srpska" SUPER CAPTION: Milorad Dodik, Caretaker Prime Minister SOUNDBITE: (English) "Clearly, when you're in a caretaker a regime if you resign without nominating someone as a successor or putting someone there as a successor there is a vacuum, clearly this is not the time for a vacuum particularly with the situation with the President and therefore we hope a proper constitutional situation can be restored and that the government will stay in place." SUPER CAPTION: Simon Haselock, Deputy High Representative and spokesman for Westendorp 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...