HEAD OF BOSNIAN FRANCISCAN ORDER PRESENTS HIS BOOK IN ZAGREB

ZAGREB, Jan 31 (Hina) - A book by father Petar Andjelovic, entitled "Dedicated to God, Dedicated to Bosnia," was presented at the Croatian Journalists' Society in the presence of Croatian President Stjepan Mesic in Zagreb on Wednesday. The author, who also wrote the book "We Are Staying" (1995), with his latest work closes a cycle of almost ten years of struggle for the state of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Bosnia's Franciscan community of Bosna Srebrena at the end of the 20th century. Croatian President Mesic said he would be happy if those who believed in Bosnia read the book, but he would be even happier if the book reached those who did not like Bosnia because to read what father Petar writes, he said, means to understand Bosnia. It is clear that the division of Bosnia was not possible, Mesic said adding that "the policy (in Croatia) which worked toward Bosnia's division is gone." According to Mesic, there is no serious politician in Croatia who would advocate Bosnia's division, while in Serbia a change toward democratisation was taking place. Serbia must experience catharsis, the same experienced by Croatia, which today considers Croats living outside Croatia as a bridge of cooperation and not the right to seize somebody else's territory. "We still have not heard this from Serbia," he said, adding Milosevic was toppled by various forces, including those who wanted Serbia in Europe as well as those who blamed Milosevic for not achieving war goals. Those forces, which are not weak, must not be neglected, Mesic warned. Father Petar said his book was not exclusively theological. It is also a political book, he said, adding politics must not be the job of politicians exclusively but of all, including priests. Speaking at the presentation of the book was Bosnia's Ambassador to Croatia, Hasan Muratovic, who said father Petar embodied everything good that the Franciscan order in Bosnia had been doing for seven centuries. (hina) sb rml