RELATIONS BETWEEN BOSNIA AND CROATIA CRUCIAL FOR REGION, SILAJDZIC

SILAJDZIC $ SAYS SARAJEVO, March 17 (Hina) - The former premier of Bosnia- Herzegovina, Haris Silajdzic, on Sunday warned that the Dayton agreement was being implemented in a wrong way, adding that this could cause the final disintegration of Bosnia-Herzegovina. 'What is happening right now is a complete inversion of priorities. The first aim of the peace agreement was the preservation of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a sovereign and integral state and the international community, instead of securing Bosnia's external borders, is reinforcing the borders between the Bosnian entities', Silajdzic said at the panel 'Circle 99' in Sarajevo, which gathers independent intellectuals. #L# The Bosnian prime minister is now leading the 'Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina' which will have its constituent assembly at the beginning of April. Silajdzic said that the responsibility for the disintegration processes lay with the state leadership which failed to react to such processes and did not oppose them at all. Silajdzic described the current situation in Bosnia- Herzegovina as occupation of the country by its neighbours. 'If you try to put the Bosniacs into a ghetto within Bosnia- Herzegovina then other peoples will have to live in ghettos as well and this will have far-reaching consequences for the situation in Europe. It will lead to the implementation of nationalist projects, and one should bear in mind that it is impossible to create great Serbia without prompting the creation of great Croatia or, say, great Albania', Silajdzic stressed. Relations between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia were crucial for the situation in the region. 'Relations between the two countries are now placed on very unstable foundations which are neither popular nor accepted in Bosnia as well as in Croatia', Silajdzic said, adding that the change of the current situation demanded coordination and cooperation of democratic forces in both countries. (hina) rm 171649 MET mar 96