PRAGUE, March 6 (Hina) - If all entities in Bosnia-Herzegovina were to convene their own congresses and proclaim autonomy, Bosnia-Herzegovina would disappear, Croatian President Stipe Mesic told a round-table at Radio Free Europe in
Prague Tuesday. The radio used Mesic's visit to the Czech Republic to organise a round-table on the subjects "Transformational Process in Croatia" and "Croatia's Relations with Neighbouring Countries". Mesic's message to Bosnian Croats was that they should solve their problems within Bosnian institutions, and said the HDZ party (Croatian Democratic Union) had no right to pretensions of it as the only legal representative of Croats in the country. "Everything radical Croats are doing in Bosnia-Herzegovina, they are doing to their detriment," Mesic asserted. The Croat National Assembly in Mostar last Saturday proclaimed a temporary Croat self-government in areas mostly populated by Bosnian Croats,
PRAGUE, March 6 (Hina) - If all entities in Bosnia-Herzegovina were
to convene their own congresses and proclaim autonomy, Bosnia-
Herzegovina would disappear, Croatian President Stipe Mesic told a
round-table at Radio Free Europe in Prague Tuesday.
The radio used Mesic's visit to the Czech Republic to organise a
round-table on the subjects "Transformational Process in Croatia"
and "Croatia's Relations with Neighbouring Countries".
Mesic's message to Bosnian Croats was that they should solve their
problems within Bosnian institutions, and said the HDZ party
(Croatian Democratic Union) had no right to pretensions of it as the
only legal representative of Croats in the country.
"Everything radical Croats are doing in Bosnia-Herzegovina, they
are doing to their detriment," Mesic asserted.
The Croat National Assembly in Mostar last 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 of the meeting unanimously adopted a decision on
the establishment of an inter-cantonal and inter-municipal council
as a temporary Croat self-government in the country.
Commenting on Monday's signed agreement on special relations
between the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina and
Yugoslavia, Mesic said this represented further undermining of
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We should not carry a policy towards Bosnia so entities feel like
states;," he said, adding cooperation with Bosnia-Herzegovina
should be carried out as with an integral state.
Croatia signed an agreement on special relations with the Bosnian
Federation a while back, Mesic recalled, but stressed this was a
framework agreement and unusable without annexes.
As regards the return of Serb refugees to Croatia, Mesic reiterated
it was in Croatia's interest for them to return.
Homes will be constructed for all those whose houses were burnt or
destroyed in the Homeland Defence War.
Dubbing Serb refugees victims of (former Yugoslav President)
Milosevic's politics, Mesic asserted Serbs in Croatia would one day
have to represent a bridge in relations between Croatia and
Yugoslavia.
Asked by a Yugoslav reporter whether the Croatian President knew
against whom the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague has issued
indictments for crimes committed in Dubrovnik in 1991, Mesic
replied he wished to know, among else for personal reasons.
Asked about the possibility of a new war breaking out in the region
due to great tensions on the Kosovo-Macedonia border, Mesic voiced
assurance Macedonia would be able to solve the situation with
Kosovo.
Besides, he added, the KFOR (U.N.-led peace-keeping force in the
Yugoslav province) was partly responsible for the situation.
O his first day of visiting the Czech Republic, the Croatian
President spoke to the speakers of both houses of the country's
parliament, and met Prague's Mayor Jan Kasal, who handed Mesic the
keys to the city.
(hina) lml