HIGH REPRESENTATIVE TO BOSNIA HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE

SARAJEVO, Sept 12 (Hina) - International High Representative to Bosnia- Herzegovina Carlos Westendorp said on Friday that Mostar's central district would not be an electoral unit and that the main Bosnian Croat party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), would take part in local elections this weekend. A concession has been made under which the central district of Mostar will not have its own candidate in forthcoming elections and voters living there will vote in one of the town's six districts, Westendorp told reporters in Sarajevo. He added that the change of the decision on elections in the Mostar central district and Western pressure were the main reasons why the Bosnian HDZ had reversed its decision not to take part in the polls. The Spanish diplomat said that such a solution was in full conformity with the Rome agreement because the central district had never been imagined as a separate district but as the centre of town administration. He described that solution as fair interpretation of the Rome accord. According to him, the Moslem side also agreed to that solution, which was confirmed by the office of the chairman of Bosnia-Herzegovina's collective presidency on Thursday. The High Representative expressed understanding for Croat fears that their candidates could lose elections in some strategically sensitive municipalities, but added that no other concessions had been offered nor had they been possible. During last night's talks in Zagreb, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman expressed great concern about the position of the Croat people in Bosnia-Herzegovina and a continual reduction of the number of Croats in that country, Westendorp said. Westendorp stressed that the entire international community had had to exert great diplomatic and political pressure to get the Bosnian HDZ to change its stance. Tudjman is undoubtedly the leader of the whole HDZ and he could not have allowed the isolation of Croats because of elections in Bosnia- Herzegovina, he said. (hina) vm jn 121406 MET sep 97