Spain's Ricardo Peres Casado replaces Hans Koschnick in Religiously-Torn City
MOSTAR, Bosnia, April 23 (Reuters) — The new European Union administrator of Mostar met the Croat and Muslim mayors of the polarized city on Tuesday and said his priorities were to hold local elections and restart the war-battered economy. Spain's Ricardo Peres Casado, who on Monday replaced German Hans Koschnick, held his first face-to-face meeting with the mayors representing two ethnic entities created by a 1993-94 war and subsequent nationalist policies.
"There is a big and important task ahead of us — the preparation and holding of elections and restarting the economy, which means work and improvement of living conditions for all Mostar citizens," Casado said after the meeting.
Mostar is the troubled symbol of a postwar Muslim-Croat federation in Bosnia that remains effectively split into two ethnic entities. Diplomats fear that if the federation breaks up once NATO peace troops leave, war could resume. Casado and both mayors voiced optimism about the future of the task the European Union started in July 1994 — creation of a single municipal government and reunification of the city.
"I want to stress that the mayors have a lot of points in common and work always starts from that," he told reporters. "In the past two years we agreed on everything necessary for the reunification of Mostar. Now, with the new (EU) administrator we want to implement it," said Safet Orucevic, mayor of the eastern, Muslim-populated sector. "First we must hold elections and with it create a unified administration (of the city). We must no longer negotiate but implement agreements," said Orucevic, whose side has been markedly more eager to reunify the city than the Croats.
His Croat counterpart Mijo Brajkovic agreed elections, joint government and economy were crucial issues but dismissed the idea that Mostar could again be an oasis of multi-ethnic harmony that it was before Bosnia's war. "Mostar will never again be what it was — communist Mostar, brotherhood and unity and love on the streets. There are two nations living here now and what we can get together on is the economy," he said.
Brotherhood and unity was the official slogan of communist federal Yugoslavia which violently disintegrated after Croatia and Slovenia seceded in 1991 and Bosnia followed the next year. Croat and Muslim forces fought a vicious war for control of Mostar in 1993 and early 1994 but halted it and agreed to form a bi-ethnic federation under immense Western pressure. The federation split Bosnia in half with separatist Serbs.
The Croats still insist on keeping Mostar as the capital of their self-styled mini state while the federation, burdened with unresolved inter-communal disputes and a lack of real cooperation, has never taken shape. Mostar was placed under temporary EU administration in 1994 but remains divided in two, although general freedom of movement for civilians took effect this February and joint Croat-Muslim and European police patrols began.
"With the new administrator Mostar must get one mayor, regardless of nationality, so it can become one town," Orucevic said. "Today Brajkovic and I represent two parts of the city."
Casado's predecessor, Hans Koschnick, resigned six months before time in February after his plan to reorganise the city failed to win approval from the parties and a mob of Croats almost lynched him in protest at his proposal. Koschnick's armored car was stoned and shot at but he was not hurt in the incident. The EU mandate in Mostar expires on July 23 but a six-month extension is now being debated.
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