SARAJEVO, Nov 16 (Hina) - The deputy high international +representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina (BH), Jacques Klein, on +Monday harshly condemned the Bosniak Muslim side's failure to sign +two agreements between Croatia and BH, and
warned about possible +negative repercussions of such behaviour.+ In a special statement delivered to Hina, Klein expressed on behalf +of the international community great disappointment with another +delay in the signing of the already initialled agreements.+ Of the two in question, one was an agreement on special relations +between Croatia and one of BH's two entities, the Croat-Muslim +Federation of BH. The other was an agreement between Croatia and BH +on BH's use of Croatia's port of Ploce and Croatia's passage through +BH's port of Neum.+ The lack of will to sign the agreement, which engaged both the +Office of the international hig
SARAJEVO, Nov 16 (Hina) - The deputy high international
representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina (BH), Jacques Klein, on
Monday harshly condemned the Bosniak Muslim side's failure to sign
two agreements between Croatia and BH, and warned about possible
negative repercussions of such behaviour.
In a special statement delivered to Hina, Klein expressed on behalf
of the international community great disappointment with another
delay in the signing of the already initialled agreements.
Of the two in question, one was an agreement on special relations
between Croatia and one of BH's two entities, the Croat-Muslim
Federation of BH. The other was an agreement between Croatia and BH
on BH's use of Croatia's port of Ploce and Croatia's passage through
BH's port of Neum.
The lack of will to sign the agreement, which engaged both the
Office of the international high representative for BH and the
United States government, can according to Klein, be interpreted as
evidence that the Federation of BH does not support transparency
and regional stability, and that it is telling Bosnian Croats and
Serbs that they are being offered no protection.
Klein stated that even some circles in Sarajevo had realised that
transparency also means complete honesty about their relations
with friends from abroad. There was also a feeling that some do not
want a multiethnic Bosnian state, he added.
The absence of agreements would obstruct the international
community's work in dissuading the minority Croat population in BH
from looking for other solutions, Klein said.
He added that federal authorities had jeopardised the signing of
the Ploce-Neum agreement which provides BH with access to the sea
and was an opportunity for BH to breathe economically.
The situation, Klein concluded, brought into question the federal
officials' wish to negotiate with good intentions, their ability to
take part in coherent international negotiations, and their care
for citizens.
Klein hoped history would not record that the international
community had cared more about people in these regions and their
future than their own leaders.
(hina) ha mm