CRO AMERICANS ASK POWELL TO CONVENE INT. CONFERENCE ON BOSNIA

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Hina) - The National Federation of Croatian Americans has forwarded a letter to the United States' Secretary of State, Colin Powell, asking him to help convene very soon an international conference on the political crisis of the Croat community in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The NFCA supports a recent statement of Bishops' Conference in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in which the Roman Catholic dignitaries urge the appropriate and peaceful settlement of the political crisis through dialogue with all legal Bosnian Croat representatives, read the letter issued by the NFCA. Croatian Americans assess that the international community's High Representative to Bosnia, Wolfgang Petritsch, has failed to establish a constructive political relationship with the Croat community, as well as that the Dayton peace accords have not managed to ensure a stable future for Bosnia. The NFCA adds that the current political imbalance among the three peoples (Croats, Moslems and Serbs) poses a permanent threat to the stability and survival of democratic Bosnia-Herzegovina. The NFCA is confident the objections of the Bosnian Croats are justified, and that the international community must respond with no delay. (hina) ms