MOSTAR'S REORGANISATION MOSTAR, April 23 (Hina) - The Mostar branch of the Office of the High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina (OHR) on Wednesday released a letter High Representative Paddy Ashdown sent to members of a commission
in charge of drawing up a statute of Mostar. The letter contains eight principles which should be applied in the reorganisation of this southern city.
MOSTAR, April 23 (Hina) - The Mostar branch of the Office of the High
Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina (OHR) on Wednesday released a
letter High Representative Paddy Ashdown sent to members of a
commission in charge of drawing up a statute of Mostar. The letter
contains eight principles which should be applied in the
reorganisation of this southern city. #L#
According to those principles, the current boundaries of the city
would not be changed and the city should have a united
administration with a lower number of officials and clerks. This
could be achieved with the annulment of current parallel
structures.
The composition of local authorities should be regulated in
accordance with results of a 1991 census.
A single budget is defined with mechanisms for the execution of its
funds.
Ashdown envisages that Mostar would have one assembly and the
electoral system for the election of deputies from all the three
constituent peoples in Bosnia (Bosniaks i.e. Muslims, Croats and
Serbs) and representatives of all others from all parts of the
city.
According to the letter, there is a principle of responsibility and
mechanisms would be provided for the protection of vital national
interests of all the three constituent peoples.
The current organisation of Mostar is inefficient and expensive, as
the city is still divided on ethnic criteria eight years after the
war. Mostar, with a 120,000-strong population, is divided into six
municipalities and a central district in line with purely ethnic
criteria. As a result, the western part is populated mainly by
Croats and the eastern by Bosniaks.
(hina) ms sb