FOUNDER OF CROATIAN REPUBLIC OF HERZEG-BOSNIA DIES

MOSTAR, July 7 (Hina) - The founder and president of the Croatian Community and Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and former president of the Croatian Democratic Union Party of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mate Boban, died at the Mostar Clinical Hospital at 04.15 hours on Monday, the hospital's medical council said in a statement. Boban was admitted to hospital in the afternoon of 4 July after a brain haemorrhage. According to the medical council's statement, after reanimation and intensive medical therapy, the course of the illness was such that it resulted in death due to failure of vital cardiopulmonary centres. In February 1994, Boban offered his resignation as president of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia to the Herzeg-Bosnian House of Representatives. He then undertook management duties at Croatia's oil company INA in Zagreb. Boban's funeral will take place at the Sveti Stjepan cemetery in Gorica on Wednesday afternoon. (hina) ha 071309 MET jul 97