BOSNIA'S RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES' LEADERS APPEAL FOR COEXISTENCE IN PEACE , TOLERANCE

PEACE , TOLERANCE SARAJEVO, June 9 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina's main four religious communities' leaders, on Monday appealed for the coexistence in peace and understanding and respect for the mutual differences. In the Bosnian capital, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sarajevo, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, the Bosnian Islamic community's head, Mustafa Efendi Ceric, Serb Orthodox 'Dabro-Bosanski' Metropolitan, Nikolaj Mrdja, and Bosnia's Jewish Community's President, Jakob Finci, signed a joint statement appealing for the full implementation of the Dayton accords as well as for the lasting peace. Monday's ceremony of the signing of the 'Statement on Joint Moral Obligation" by the above-mentioned religious dignitaries and heads was attended by Diplomatic Corps members accredited in Bosnia- Herzegovina and the deputy High Representative of the international community to the country, a German diplomat Michael Steiner. In the statement, they voiced their worry about slow and inefficient implementation of the peace accords' civilian parts as well as about recent events in interentity border areas. Recalling the plight which peoples in Bosnia had already experienced, the four religious dignitaries demanded the establishment of the lasting peace based on the truth, justice and co-existence. Recognising the existence of differences among those peoples, they also stressed that religious and spiritual traditions in Bosnia had many joint values that can ensure the basis for the mutual respect, cooperation and free co-existence. In their first joint statement since 1992, the four dignitaries condemned every violence against the innocent, violations of the fundamental human rights, and, in particular, acts based on ethnic and religious hatred. The statement severely denounced the incineration of houses, desecration of cemeteries and religious sites and the impediment of the refugees' return, the revenge and the usage of the media for spreading hatred. The religious dignitaries asked for ensuring the full freedom of work of all religious servants in the whole of Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as for the right of every child to have religious instructions in their own religion. It was said at the signing ceremony that religious leaders had broken the collective silence about joint problems by signing the statement. Monday's signing of the statement confirmed the beginning of the work of the Bosnian Inter-Religious Council, the first session of which had been held in Vienna at the beginning of June. The text of the statement was forwarded to Bosnian Presidency's members, Alija Izetbegovic, Kresimir Zubak, Momcilo Krajisnik. (hina) jn mš 091841 MET jun 97