HARIS SILAJDZIC TO RETURN TO BOSNIA'S POLITICAL SCENE?

SARAJEVO, Dec 9 (Hina) - Haris Silajdzic, a former senior Bosnian official, will probably return to active politics and resume the helm of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he founded. The return of Alija Izetbeovic's one-time closest associate to active politics is certain, the Banja Luka newspaper Nezavisne Novine quoted Safet Halilovic, the vice president of Bosnia's federation who has headed the Party for BH since Silajdzic's withdrawal in September. Silajdzic is one of the key figures in Bosnian politics of the past ten years. After parting from Izetbegovic in 1996, he founded his own party and for a while was in the Opposition before realigning forces with Izetbegovic's Party of Democratic Action (SDA). The Party for BH participated in the 2000 ballot independently and later took part in the establishment of the ruling Alliance for Changes coalition, which comprises ten parties from the federation, Bosnia's Croat-Muslim entity. Silajdzic has made no public appearances and refrained from commenting political developments since the incumbent authorities came into power, but his decision to step back from the helm of the Party for BH three months ago surprised many. There were comments to the effect that without him, the party would disintegrate as it originated as his personal project and owed its relative success at the elections exclusively to Silajdzic's political charisma among many Muslim politicians. Halilovic said the door to Silajdzic's return had never been closed and that the past three months had helped reorganise the party for BH. The reaction to Silajdzic's return among representatives from the ruling Alliance for Changes have been restrained, which is perhaps best illustrated by the words of Adil Mulalic, the spokesman for the Democratic People's Alliance. He maintains Silajdzic's return will reopen the issue of the functioning of the coalition in light of the competition between Silajdzic and Zlatko Lagumdzija, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). "When Silajdzic was in the Alliance, many things didn't work," says Mulalic. Some estimate the conflict between the SDP and the Party for BH could escalate in the pre-electoral months ahead. The Party for BH is increasingly interested in the support of those structures and the part of the electorate disappointed with what the SDA failed to do for them. These include the Islamic Community, whose leader Mustafa Ceric publicly denied support to the SDA after the party went back on its promise to return nationalised property, particularly to religious communities. It is public knowledge that the restitution law is one of the issues the SDP and the Party for BH are battling about - the former wants to protect the current bearers of tenancy rights and users of business premises, while the latter backs the interests of powerful institutions, such as the Islamic Community. It is certain that Silajdzic's return will not make anyone among the Bosnian Serbs happy. Representatives of almost every Bosnian Serb party agree that Silajdzic belongs to the generation of war leaders who no longer have a place in politics. For Mirko Banjac, a prominent Serb Democratic Party hardliner, Slijadzic's return means "the return of the Muslim side to the policy of 1991 and 1992." The spokesman for the Party of Democratic Progress, Igor Crnadak, particularly objects to Silajdzic's constant warning that the Dayton peace agreement is unsustainable in its present form. (hina) ha