ASSEMBLY IN MOSTAR PROCLAIMS TEMPORARY CROAT SELF-GOVERNMENT

MOSTAR, March 3 (Hina)- The Croat National Assembly in Mostar Saturday proclaimed a temporary Croat self-government in areas mostly populated by Bosnian Croats, and suspended the authority of Bosnia-Herzegovina's government bodies. The participants unanimously adopted a decision on the establishment of an inter-cantonal and inter-municipal council as a temporary Croat self-government in the country as a form of protecting the national interests of Bosnian Croats until full constitutional and true equality of the Croat people in Bosnia- Herzegovina is secured. The self-government will be based in Mostar. In order to comprehensively protect the Croat people, Croats living in areas of Bosniak and Serb majority will be represented by Croat self-government commissioners in the areas. Areas governed by the temporary self-government will protect national communities and minorities. The aforementioned areas have their own shield, flag and stamp, as well as other symbols which will be decided on by decrees. The official language in these areas will be Croatian and the script will be the Latin script. Other languages and scripts may be used as means of communication and in schools, while additional languages may be official, in line with special regulations. In the transitional period, bodies of the Croat self-government will perform the duties of the federal authorities. Bodies of the self-government will comprise its Judicial Council, president of the self-government, administration departments and the judicial authority. The decision adopted at the convention stipulates the financing of the temporary Croat self-government. The decision also guarantees the exercise and protection of human rights, as well as the basic freedoms in the area. The Assembly adopted a political platform for a democratic and sustainable Bosnia-Herzegovina, suggesting the establishment of the country's federal structure, meaning several federal units with equal responsibilities and rights. Calling on the participants of the meeting to adopt the document, president of the HDZ BiH (Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia- Herzegovina) and president of the Croat National Assembly, Ante Jelavic, said the document could be withdrawn within 15 days if the Assembly's demands are met, which, according to him, guarantee equality of the Croat people in relation to the two other constitutive peoples in the country. If the Croat demands are not met by this time, all decisions on the establishment of the self-government will become valid, Jelavic stressed. He requested an urgent and critical revision of the justification of the presence of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He accused the OSCE Mission of breaching the country's constitution to the detriment of the Croat people with their electoral engineering. A representative of the Croatian ruling six-party coalition, Zdravko Tomac, attempted to dissuade participants of the Assembly from making a unilateral decision on the founding of the temporary Croat self-government and called on them to once again consider their decision. Tomac warned that this decision would be in violation of the Dayton peace agreement. "If it is necessary to seek for a new Dayton Agreement, then this must be done in line with the Bosnian Constitution," Tomac said. His warnings, however, were dismissed. (hina) lml sb