CROAT OFFICIALS IN MOSTAR DISCONTINUE RELATIONS WITH OHR OFFICE

MOSTAR, Dec 21 (Hina) - Bosnian Croat officials from Herzegovina- Neretva Canton on Tuesday sent an open letter to the head of the Mostar Office of the High Representative, Gerhard Sontheim, informing him of their decision to discontinue their relations and cooperation with him and his office as long as he is heading it. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) committee in Mostar told Sontheim in the letter they no longer wanted him holding any political office in Mostar and proclaimed him a persona non grata. The HDZ assessed that in Sontheim's short political career "much damage had been done to the Croats" due to his "prejudiced assessments and unobjective reports" to the international community, including High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch, which resulted in "very harmful decisions on the replacement of a certain number of Croat officials," read the letter, signed by more than 50 county officials. The High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina recently replaced 22 BH officials, including six Bosnian Croat officials of whom five were from Herzegovina-Neretva Canton. (hina) rml