CROAT OFFICIALS SIGN AGREEMENT ON MOSTAR

MOSTAR, June 3 (Hina) - Local Croat leaders in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton on Wednesday signed an Agreement on Mostar, which an international mediator for Bosnia-Herzegovina Christian Schwarz- Schilling proposed last week. Upon his proposal, this agreement on the establishment of the joint (Croat-Moslem) cantonal bodies, their joint headquarters and the return of refugees had been signed by the Moslem (Bosniak) side whereas Croat representatives had previously refused to accept the deal. Following Wednesday's signing, a Croat representative, Rade Bosnjak, who is a deputy head of this canton, explained that the Croat side decided to sign the document after it received from the Richard Ellerkmann, the head of the Mostar branch office of the International Representative, a letter of guarantees that the return of both Croat and Moslem refugees to this canton would be treated equally. According to Bosnjak, at the last week's meeting with the German diplomat Schwarz-Schilling, Moslems insisted that the agreement should help facilitate the return of Moslems expelled from their flats and houses in Mostar after the conclusion of the Dayton Accord. At the same meeting Croats demanded that the agreement should address the problem of the return of Croats to nearby towns of Jablanica and Konjic. The German diplomat did not accept that, and Croats gave up signing the deal then, Bosnjak added. He explained that Schwarz-Schilling's draft agreement was not changed, but Croats signed it after Ellerkmann's guarantees. International representatives voiced satisfaction, at yesterday's news conference, with the fact that also Croat side had signed the agreement, describing it as a step forward for Mostar. (hina) ms