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Croats in Bosnia Bolster 'Bogus' State
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) - Bosnian Croats named a new administration Sunday for their self-styled Bosnian state, defying international attempts to keep Bosnia’s Muslims and Croats united. The move comes as nations involved in the NATO-led peace force try to ensure the unity of the Muslim-Croat federation in Bosnia ahead of elections called for in the Dayton peace agreement.
Concern about the elections has centered on the Bosnian Serbs, whose two main leaders are indicted for war crimes. The move showed elections may also be a problem in the 51 percent of Bosnia held by the Muslim-Croat federation. The Muslim-led Bosnian government in Sarajevo, which regards the Bosnian Croat state of Herzeg-Bosnia as bogus as the Bosnian Serbs’ Republika Srpska, said the reshuffling made a mockery of the Muslim-Croat federation.
The reshuffling is illegal because Herzeg-Bosnia "does not exist under all the agreements we have," Bosnian Prime Minister Hasan Muratovic said.
Croats in the tense city of Mostar, which is divided between Muslims and Croats, named Pero Markovic as the new president of Herzeg-Bosnia, the Bosnian Croat news agency Habena reported Sunday. Zdenko Cosic, secretary of the Bosnian branch of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman’s Croatian Democratic Union, said the new administration was "only a necessary step to protect Croat interests until the elections."
The Bosnian Croat state was declared by Croat nationalists during fighting in 1993 between Muslims and Croats. In Croat-controlled parts of Bosnia, it collects taxes, runs schools and allows use of Croatia’s currency. But under the Dayton accord, which calls for elections in September, a Muslim-Croat federation and a Bosnian Serb state are to comprise Bosnia in a loose confederation. Herzeg-Bosnia is to be phased out.
There is also increasing disunity in the Muslim camp. Haris Silajdzic, Bosnia’s former prime minister, was recovering Sunday after Muslim rioters hit him on the head with an iron bar at a rally to launch his political party. He was not seriously injured. |
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