BOSNIAN CROAT OFFICIAL SLAMS AGREEMENT ON CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

MOSTAR, March 28 (Hina) - The president of Bosnia's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Ante Jelavic, said on Thursday the agreement on constitutional changes in Bosnia was "on the trail of... the Serb-Bosniak agreement on the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina into two parts." Jelavic accused the international community of "doing everything to fortify an ethnically pure Republika Srpska," stressing his party did not want to give legitimacy to a Bosnian Serb entity created on genocide. Bosnian Croats did not gain anything in Republika Srpska and lost everything in the Croat-Bosniak federation with the agreement on constitutional changes, Jelavic told reporters. He added the agreement did not bind Bosnian Croats to anything as it was signed by Kresimir Zubak, the president of the New Croatian Initiative, who Jelavic said enjoyed only minimal support among the constituents. "If High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch imposes the decision on constitutional changes from the agreement he will be responsible for turning one constituent people - Croats - into a national minority," said Jelavic. He added his party would do everything in parliament to introduce the true equality of Croats in Bosnia. Niko Lozancic, one of HDZ's negotiators on the constitutional changes, said the agreement legalised the genocidal project of Radovan Karadzic's Republika Srpska. He added that those who signed the agreement were responsible for that. (hina) ha