MOSTAR/SARAJEVO, Dec 7 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina's ruling Party of Democratic Action (SDA) on Sunday condemned the erection of a monument to Croatia's late President Franjo Tudjman in Bosnia's Siroki Brijeg yesterday.
MOSTAR/SARAJEVO, Dec 7 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina's ruling Party
of Democratic Action (SDA) on Sunday condemned the erection of a
monument to Croatia's late President Franjo Tudjman in Bosnia's
Siroki Brijeg yesterday. #L#
The vice president of this Bosniak party, Seada Palavric, said
Tudjman's role in last decade's Bosnian war had been negative.
"Tudjman's role in the past war... wasn't harmless at all. Amongst
other things, he and Croatian troops were on the side of the HVO
(Bosnian Croat Defence Council) in the conflict with the Army of
Bosnia-Herzegovina," said Palavric, who is considered a
sympathiser of the SDA's hard-liners.
She also slammed the leaders of Bosnia's Croatian Democratic Union
(HDZ), a political ally in the government, for attending the
unveiling of the monument. She said their attendance and speech
raised doubts as to their support of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a
state.
The unveiling received negative media coverage in Sarajevo as
well.
Dnevni Avaz daily cautioned the Bosnian HDZ leadership that by
erecting a monument to a person "which a good part of the world has
characterised as autocratic and a staunch opponent of the survival
of the state of Bosnia-Herzegovina," it clearly refuted much of
what its leaders were trying to assure local politicians and
representatives of the international community in Bosnia.
Oslobodjenje covered the unveiling on its front page, stating that
Croats in Bosnia will continue to follow Tudjman's ideas.
The daily reported that an envoy of Croatia's HDZ leader Ivo
Sanader, Florijan Boras, had announced at the unveiling that
Croatia's new government would help Bosnia's Croats "achieve
equality".
(hina) ha