UN MISSION UNSATISFIED WITH SITUATION IN HERZEG-BOSNIAN CANTON

LIVNO, March 2 (Hina) - Judiciary and prosecution in Herzeg-Bosnian canton (within the Croat-Moslem Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina) are not independent. Nor are police forces independent that should protect ordinary people. Instead, judiciary, prosecution and police are protecting the current politicians, asserted the head of the High Representative's regional office, Finn Lynghjem, in Livno on Thursday. Lynghjem added, at a news conference, that current politicians of this canton must respect the rule of law and the Dayton peace accords. He reprimanded the cantonal authorities for failing to enforce property law and implement a decision made by the international community's High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina on dismissal of the Canton's former justice minister Stipe Babic. After that decision, the cantonal government appointed Babic as a member of the local public health institute. Lynghjem told reporters that he and representatives of the UN mission in Bosnia had established that members of minority peoples were not being employed with police. There are some suspicions about the implemented process of privatisation of companies in this canton, he added. (hina) jn ms