BH FEDERATION DEFENCE MINISTER ON CALL FOR DISBANDING HVO

SARAJEVO, March 27 (Hina) - The decision of the so-called Croat self-rule in Bosnia-Herzegovina on the temporary disbanding of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina army's Croat component has no meaning whatsoever, it is illegal and can only serve to confuse the Croat people and Croat members of the Federation Army, Federation Defence Minister Mijo Anic said on Tuesday. Commenting on a call of the Croat National Congress (HNS) to Croat Federation Army members to disband their units temporarily, Anic said in a written statement in Sarajevo nobody had the right to disband a people's army and that the ones least entitled to do so were representatives of anti-constitutional and parallel bodies of authority in Bosnia-Herzegovina. "It is now completely clear that the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leadership is not comfortable with the normalisation of the situation in the country because many will have to answer for their criminal activities before courts and their people, which is why they are trying to drag into their dirty political games as many honourable people as possible, whom their soldiers' salary is their families' sole source of survival," Anic said. The Federation Defence Ministry called on all members of the federal army's Croat component not to allow to be tricked by illegal calls of self-proclaimed institutions and individuals and to respect their commanders' orders. (hina) rml