BOSNIAN SERBS TO RESUME TASKS IN JOINT BODIES OF AUTHORITY

SARAJEVO, Apr 15 (Hina) - Bosnian Serb officials in Bosnia's joint bodies of authority will as of next week discontinue their boycott of those institutions and resume performing their tasks, the international High Representative for Bosnia, Carlos Westendorp, said on Thursday. Westendorp met the Serb members of Bosnia's Council of Ministers, Bosnian Serb Premier Milorad Dodik, some members of Dodik's government, and Bosnian Serb parliament president Petar Djokic in the Sarajevo district of Kula, which is part of the Bosnian Serb republic. The recent boycott has damaged the interests of both Bosnia and its two entities and can no longer be tolerated, Westendorp told reporters after the closed talks. The chairman of Bosnia's collective Presidency, Zivko Radisic, was not present, but Westendorp said he was sure Radisic would follow the other Serb officials' decision to discontinue the boycott. Bosnian Serb decided to boycott Bosnia's joint bodies of authority after the early March decision on the establishment of a district in the area of Brcko, a disputed town in the north-east of Bosnia. They conditioned their return to Bosnia's joint institutions on a reversal of the Brcko decision and on the fact that the town remain within the Bosnian Serb entity. (hina) ha