THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, July 15 (Hina) - A former Croat member of the Bosnian collective presidency, Stjepan Kljujic, on Tuesday testified at the Milosevic trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY),
about the Serbian aggression against Bosnia-Herzegovina and attempts of the indictee, Slobodan Milosevic, and the first Croatian president, Franjo Tudjman, to carve Bosnia up.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, July 15 (Hina) - A former Croat member of the
Bosnian collective presidency, Stjepan Kljujic, on Tuesday
testified at the Milosevic trial before the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), about the Serbian
aggression against Bosnia-Herzegovina and attempts of the
indictee, Slobodan Milosevic, and the first Croatian president,
Franjo Tudjman, to carve Bosnia up. #L#
Kljujic, who was a Croat member in the Bosnian presidency when he
was the HDZ BiH party's leader from November 1990 to November 1992,
testified about his falling out with the then president of Croatia,
Franjo Tudjman, as he opposed an idea of the carve-up of Bosnia.
After that Kljujic was thrown out of the HDZ party and relieved of
his duty in the Bosnian presidency.
Asked by Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice whether Tudjman had ever talked
to him about his meetings with Milosevic in Karadjordjevo, at which
the division of Bosnia was allegedly being negotiated, the witness
answered in the negative.
"No, Tudjman knew that I was a Bosnia patriot and against the idea of
carving the country up. Tudjman only told me that he had got the
Cazin area from Milosevic," Kljujic said.
"I told him, Mr. President, this is the same if I was to give you
Sardinia or Sicily, as this is neither your nor Milosevic's
territory," the witness said.
He added that the indictee Milosevic, who was at the time president
of Serbia, offered him the secession of western Herzegovina to
Croatia at a break of a meeting of the Serbian and Bosnian
leaderships which took place in Belgrade on 22 January 1991.
"He (Milosevic) told me that he understood the wish of the people in
western Herzegovina to join Croatia," and he cited municipalities
to which he was referring, the witness said.
Kljujic commented that this was "a permanent trick of the Serb side
to allow a smaller part of Croats from a minor territory to join
(Croatia)". He added that this trick "today has grave consequences
as part of the Croat people believes in that possibility".
The witness also told the ICTY how Tudjman had insisted on him
negotiating with the then Bosnian Serb hard-line leader Radovan
Karadzic and his SDS party in the autumn of 1991 while "Croatia was
set ablaze".
Kljujic said Bosnian Serbs "did not want Bosnia-Herzegovina and did
not recognise Croatia," and at a meeting with the Serb leadership in
late September 1991 he asked them (Serbs) to recognise the Republic
of Croatia within its borders, established in the Second World War
(the so-called AVNOJ borders).
"Their reaction was terrible, they said they would never accept
it," Kljujic said.
The witness said that later on, Bosnian Serbs cooperated with "the
pro-Serb lobby within the HDZ BiH", and added that "with the
outbreak of the aggression against Bosnia this cooperation started
assuming optimum proportions".
The witness testified about the departure of Bosnian Serbs from the
presidency and parliament of Bosnia and on their proclamation of
the union with "the Serb Krajina" in Croatia in June 1991, which he
described as an attempt to undermine the sovereignty of Bosnia and
Croatia and the first step towards the uniting of all Serb-
populated areas.
Kljujic testified about Belgrade's attempts to make Alija
Izetbegovic (Bosnian Muslim leader) to acquiesce to the Serb demand
to remain in a rump Yugoslavia. Kljujic labelled another Bosnian
Muslim leader Fikret Abdic as "a Serb player".
The witness also testified about the siege and shelling of Sarajevo
from Bosnian Serb positions which lasted 44 months.
(hina) ms sb