CROAT NATIONAL CONGRESS SLAMS MESIC'S VISIT TO BOSNIA

MOSTAR, June 1 (Hina) - Bosnia's Croat National Congress said on Friday the visit Croatian President Stipe Mesic was making to Sarajevo was a "bad message" for Croats in Bosnia which the authorities in the capital, which the Congress considers unconstitutional, "are trying to reduce to a national minority." Mesic is on a two-day visit to the neighbouring country at the head of a Croatian delegation attending a session of the Croatian- Bosnian Cooperation Council. "We don't doubt that the... Council session will tackle important bilateral issues, but this session was an excellent opportunity to put on the agenda key issues like the constitutional and actual status of Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the violation of human and national rights and freedoms," the Congress said in a statement. The statement accuses the Croatian head of state of having come to support the "undemocratic, illegitimate and thereby unconstitutionally established authority which wishes to endanger Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina by all means and reduce them to a national minority." The Croat National Congress claims the lack of willingness shown by Mesic and Jozo Krizanovic, the Croat member in Bosnia's three-men state presidency, to visit Bosnia's mostly Croat-populated areas testifies to Mesic unpopularity and Krizanovic's illegitimacy among the Bosnian Croat population. (hina) ha sb