CHIEF BOSNIAN CROAT PARTY FULLY SUPPORTS PEACE AGREEMENT

SARAJEVO, Jan 26 (Hina) - The president of the Bosnian-based Croat Democratic Union (HDZ-BH), Bozo Rajic, said on Friday his party strongly supported the full implementation of the Dayton peace agreement, but would oppose any attempt to change the agreement at the expense of the Croat people in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Rajic told a press conference in Sarajevo that Wednesday's decision by the HDZ-BH presidency on the gradual transfer of authority from the Croat Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia to the Moslem- Croat Federation was proof of the determination of the Croat side to meet all their commitments. He recalled that Herzeg-Bosnia had been founded in 1991 when the legitimate bodies of the Bosnian authorities did not function and that its existence made it possible for Bosnia-Herzegovina to survive as a state. "The Bosnian Croats regard the Federation as an end and not as a means and we have therefore agreed to integrate Herzeg-Bosnia into it," Rajic said. The return of the HDZ BH head office to Sarajevo marked the final proof that the Croat side was determined to participate in the process of establishing the Federation as a common state and in the reintegration of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Rajic stressed that the Croat side would unconditionally accept international arbitration in resolving the status of Mostar, adding that Croat officials never spoke of that town as a capital of their state but as a cultural, economic and spiritual centre of the Bosnian Croats. Commenting on debates on the organization of local government in Sarajevo, Rajic said that the Croats would ask for an equal status in the city government. (hina) vm jn 261941 MET jan 96