SARAJEVO, Dec 20 (Hina) - The Serb Democratic Party (SDS) will definitely participate in the new executive authority in Bosnia-Herzegovina, regardless of the opposition and warnings of the U.S. government, the chairman of the Bosnian
Presidency and senior SDS official, Mirko Sarovic, said in Sarajevo on Friday.
SARAJEVO, Dec 20 (Hina) - The Serb Democratic Party (SDS) will
definitely participate in the new executive authority in Bosnia-
Herzegovina, regardless of the opposition and warnings of the U.S.
government, the chairman of the Bosnian Presidency and senior SDS
official, Mirko Sarovic, said in Sarajevo on Friday. #L#
Commenting on the U.S. administration's repeated warnings that the
participation of national parities, particularly the SDS, in the
executive authority will reduce U.S. assistance and cool relations
between Sarajevo and Washington, Sarovic told reporters that his
party would act in line with the voters' will. "The SDS will
definitely take part in the new Republika Srpska government. We
will act in line with what our voters want and not with what someone
from the outside wants," Sarovic said explaining the position of
the party founded by Radovan Karadzic.
The incumbent chairman of the Bosnian Council of Ministers, Dragan
Mikerevic, who has been appointed permier-designate in Republika
Srpska, said after his last week's visit to Washington that U.S.
officials had clearly told him that the participation of the SDS in
his government would lead to serious problems in the two countries'
cooperation.
U.S. Ambassador Clifford Bond was quoted by Bosnia-Herzegovina
press on Friday as saying that his government's standpoint
regarding the SDS's role in the new Bosnian government remained
unchanged.
Reminding that the US government was bound by the "Lautenberg
amendment" which prohibits offering assistance to those who fail to
cooperate in extraditing war criminals, the U.S. ambassador said
this was exactly what the SDS was doing.
(hina) it sb