BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY CHAIRMAN IZETBEGOVIC OFFICIALLY RETIRED

SARAJEVO, Oct 14 (Hina) - After ten years in the Bosnian state leadership, Alija Izetbegovic was officially retired on Saturday. At a session of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency, held in Sarajevo today, the office of the presidency chairman was taken over by Zivko Radisic while Halid Genjac stood in for Izetbegovic as a temporary member of the state leadership. The session, which was attended by the highest officials of the international community in the country, led by High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch, was open for reporters. Izetbegovic used the occasion to say that his leaving the state presidency did not mean the end of his political career. "By leaving the BH Presidency I am not excluding myself from the public life. I will try to contribute from another position to the democratic development of integral Bosnia-Herzegovina and the people I belong to," said Izetbegovic, who intends to keep his position as the president of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA). Izetbegovic described his past ten years as a member of the state presidency as a dramatic period in which all attempts to peacefully resolve the Yugoslav crisis had failed because of nationalist projects, which was followed by the struggle for Bosnia's independence and establishment of its democracy. Commenting on the situation in the country after the signing of the Dayton peace agreement, Izetbegovic said the agreement enabled the building of a better Bosnia-Herzegovina in peace but added this process was inadmissibly slow. This is particularly difficult for refugees, who are unable to return to their homes, and young people, who are leaving the country in search for a better future, he said. The two other members of the state presidency, Ante Jelavic and Zivko Radisic, who attended the session, acknowledged Izetbegovic's political work. (hina) rml