ZAGREB, Feb 21 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic advocates the implementation of the Dayton peace agreement and does not support its revision, an impression one could get at a recently-held conference of the Croat National
Council (HNV) of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mesic's spokeswoman told Hina on Monday. The HNV at its third conference, held in Sarajevo on Saturday, adopted a motion for the cantonisation of the entire Bosnia, demanding in truth the revision of the Dayton agreement. The fact that Mesic forwarded a telegram of support to the conference could give one the impression that Mesic supported the cantonisation idea, and thus a Dayton revision as well. Asked by Hina if that was correct, Mesic's public relations officer Vjera Suman said Mesic's telegram was one of general support, and not supporting changes of the peace agreement. "Definitely not changes of Dayton," asserted Suman.
ZAGREB, Feb 21 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic advocates
the implementation of the Dayton peace agreement and does not
support its revision, an impression one could get at a recently-
held conference of the Croat National Council (HNV) of Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Mesic's spokeswoman told Hina on Monday.
The HNV at its third conference, held in Sarajevo on Saturday,
adopted a motion for the cantonisation of the entire Bosnia,
demanding in truth the revision of the Dayton agreement. The fact
that Mesic forwarded a telegram of support to the conference could
give one the impression that Mesic supported the cantonisation
idea, and thus a Dayton revision as well.
Asked by Hina if that was correct, Mesic's public relations officer
Vjera Suman said Mesic's telegram was one of general support, and
not supporting changes of the peace agreement.
"Definitely not changes of Dayton," asserted Suman. "Dayton
exists, and for now the position is that it has to be implemented,"
she said, adding Mesic was a legalist.
Croatian parliament president Zlatko Tomcic also forwarded a
telegram supporting HNV's conference, but unlike Mesic, Tomcic
explicitly supported the notion of an entirely cantonised Bosnia.
"I welcome your initiative for the cantonisation of BH according to
principles which are neither exclusively ethnic nor ethnically
exclusive, but which follow the natural correlation of Bosnia-
Herzegovina regions and areas, their centuries-long principle of
coexistence which made your country so special and so precious,"
read the Tomcic telegram.
Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula, speaking about the
government's foreign policy, repeatedly stressed Croatia
advocated the implementation and not the changing of the Dayton
peace agreement.
The conclusions of HNV's third conference propose changes in
Bosnia's internal structure, namely that it become a community of
17 cantons, with Sarajevo as the capital which would have the status
of a district. The cantons would have a high degree of autonomy, as
in Switzerland. In many, one of Bosnia's three peoples would have
predominance, while in several, representation would be relatively
equal.
"We have to begin saying openly that inherent in Dayton are the
limits of Bosnia's democratisation and that these limits have to be
overcome," HNV president Ivo Komsic told BH Television's news a day
before the conference, and Croatian daily paper "Novi List"
reported today.
The HNV also proposes that all peoples in Bosnia be constituent
throughout the country's territory.
According to the Dayton peace agreement, Bosnia is made of the
Croat-Muslim federation and the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika
Srpska. The federation is further divided into cantons.
It is expected all Bosnian Croat political forces will support
HNV's proposals, as well as some Muslim parties, Haris Silajdzic's
Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first place, while all
political parties in Republika Srpska are expected to reject them
completely. A clear position of Alija Izetbegovic's Party of
Democratic Action, the largest Bosnian Muslim party, remains
unknown.
(hina) ha jn