BH HDZ OFFICIAL WRITES TO PETRITSCH ABOUT START OF NEGOTIATIONS

MOSTAR, May 7 (Hina) - A vice-president of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), Bozo Ljubic, who also heads the party's team for negotiations with the international community, said on Friday that he had forwarded a letter to the international community's High Representative in the country, Wolfgang Petritsch. The party has set up a six-member negotiating team in order to help overcome the political and institutional crisis which followed the establishment of federal and state authorities and the proclamation of Bosnian Croat self-rule, Ljubic said. In an interview with Croatian Radio Herceg-Bosna, Ljubic said Petritsch had not replied yet but he believed the talks could start as early as this week. The head of HDZ's negotiating team said the platform for talks would be based on the principles from the declaration of the Croat National Congress (HNS). The HNS did not "practically" establish self-rule but the Inter- Cantonal Council "was a forced means aimed at achieving full constitutional and real equality which had been completely annulled by vote rigging." (hina) sb rml