CORRECTION OF NEWS ITEM HEADLINED "SDA LEADER IN CROATIA..."

ZAGREB, Nov 24 (Hina) - Please not that the correct name of the SDA leader in Croatia is Semso Tankovic (and not Tankosic): The following is the corrected version of the news item headlined SDA LEADER IN CROATIA ON "AMBIGUOUS" TREATMENT OF ETHNIC BOSNIAKS": "SARAJEVO, Nov 24 (Hina) - The president of the Party of Democratic Action of Croatia (SDA) accused Croatian authorities of deliberate attempts to negate the existence of the Bosniak nation during the 2001 census. #L# The Croatian SDA leader, Semso Tankovic, said in an interview with the Sarajevo-based "Dnevni Avaz" daily that the results of the census show that "the elimination of one people can be achieved in other ways and not only with war and ethnic cleansing, like Serb forces did in Srebrenica in 1995." "The census-takers were trained to persuade members of our people (Muslims or Bosniaks) that the Bosniak ethnicity did not exist," Tankovic said accusing the Croatian Central Bureau of Statistics for masterminding this project. He claimed that his party had enough arguments for such allegations, although the Bureau rebutted them. He added that the column in the lists, called "others", concealed over 17,000 Bosniaks registered as Muslims. Tankovic described Zagreb's treatment of Bosniaks as ambiguous. The Bosniak ethnic community and Croatian Bosniaks' cultural society are included in some projects financed by the government, while on the grounds Bosniaks are faced with many problems in exercising their rights, Tankovic said." We apologise for any inconvenience. (hina) ms