SARAJEVO, May 19 (Hina) - The Bosnian foreign ministry on Monday protested against recent statements by Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic who connected the defining of Kosovo's status with changes to borders in the region.
SARAJEVO, May 19 (Hina) - The Bosnian foreign ministry on Monday
protested against recent statements by Serbian Prime Minister
Zoran Zivkovic who connected the defining of Kosovo's status with
changes to borders in the region. #L#
In an interview published last week in a German weekly, Der Spiegel,
Zivkovic said that Kosovo's secession would be a dangerous
precedent which would re-open the question of the borders of the
entire Balkans and not only those of Bosnia's Serb entity.
In a press release, the ministry protested against the connection
of Kosovo's status with the status of Bosnia as an internationally
recognised country.
It is warned that the Serbian premier's statement is contrary to the
policy of good neighbourly relations and cooperation which Bosnia
and Serbia and Montenegro are trying to advance on all fronts on the
basis of equality and mutual benefit.
The office of the Bosnian presidency chairman, Borislav Paravac,
also issued a statement condemning bringing the existence of
Republika Srpska into question, but without mentioning Zivkovic's
claims.
Formally, the Bosnian Presidency chairman in fact commented on
media claims that Belgrade could agree to the abolishment of
Republika Srpska if Sarajevo agreed to withdraw a lawsuit filed
with the International Court of Justice against Yugoslavia for
genocide and aggression.
Paravac says Republika Srpska cannot be abolished because it was a
result of "a civil war and the will of the Serb people in Bosnia". He
says that the Bosnian lawsuit was not filed on behalf of the State of
Bosnia-Herzegovina, so its current officials need not contest or
support it.
(hina) lml sb