BOSNIAN CROATIAN DEMOCRATIC UNION CLAIMS NHI IS DELUDING THE PUBLIC

( Editorial: --> 4442 ) MOSTAR, Aug 18 (Hina) - The Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia- Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) has hit back at claims by a rival Croat party that it was engaging in "political cannibalism". In response to Tuesday's statement by the New Croat Initiative (NHI), the HDZ BiH described the accusations as another attempt by its recently formed opponent to compensate for the lack of a plausible election platform by spreading "negative misinformation to the public and, which is even worse, to the Croat people". The Bosnian HDZ refuted various NHI allegations including those about the marketing of fruit and vegetables from Bosnia- Herzegovina, the salaries of Croatian Defence Council (HVO) troops, the defacing in Sarajevo of posters presenting NHI candidate Jozo Leotar, the Deputy Interior Minister of the BH Federation, and the absence of HDZ BiH officials in the municipality of Pecine as an attempt to obstruct the return of Croats to central Bosnia. This all testifies to the NHI's lack of credibility and that it has lost any support among the people, who have seen through the real motives of its political activities, the HDZ BiH said in a statement. The statement also warns that the very persons who have accused the HDZ BiH, such as NHI vice-president Ivo Lozancic, had defaced HDZ BiH posters in Usora in full view of passers by. (Hina) mro /mbr 182146 MET aug 98