CROAT COMPONENT OF BOSNIA'S FEDERAL ARMY MARKS ANNIVERSARY

MOSTAR, April 7 (Hina) - The Croat Defence Council (HVO), the Croat component of the armed forces of Bosnia's Croat-Muslim federation, gathered almost 1,000 members in the southern town of Mostar on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of its establishment. In attendance were members of the HVO, representatives of associations of war veterans, and the Croat National Congress (HNS). Speaking about the HNS, the recently established Bosnian Croat self-rule, and the temporary dissolving of the HVO at HNS' urging, HNS president Ante Jelavic said these acts represented an answer to an attempt to crush down the Bosnian Croat identity. He reiterated his call to federalise or divide Bosnia into cantons. At present, Bosnia is comprised of two entities. Jelavic urged establishing one Bosnian army with three components, changing the Constitution, and passing a new electoral law. Jelavic also called on new elections as the incumbent authorities, he said, were illegitimate. "The Croats will never accept them," he said, adding the Bosnian Croat people was willing to hold out and win "as freedom is priceless." He accused Bosnian Croat leaders in federal and state bodies of authority of seeking supervision over the HVO despite having accused it during the 1990s war of war crimes and aggression. "The HVO was not in the function of aggression, the Croats defended Bosnia," he said, adding the HVO would never allow to be manipulated. (hina) ha