BOSNIAN CROAT OFFICIALS ON HERZEG-BOSNIA GOVT RESHUFFLE

MOSTAR, Jun 23 (Hina) - Bosnian Federation Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic, Defence Minister Vladimir Soljic and the president of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ B-H), Bozo Rajic, commented on the reactions of Moslem and international officials to a recent decision to reshuffle the government of Herzeg-Bosnia, at a press conferene in Mostar on Saturday. Vladimir Soljic doubles as the defence minister of Herzeg- Bosnia. The three officials agreed that the negative reactions were probably caused by the awkward wording of the statement issued after the June 15 session, at which the reshuffle was decided. The statement apparently omitted to mention that the number of ministries was to be reduced from 14 to 6 and that their powers were also restricted in order to pave the way for the establishment of new Federal authorities. "We need to keep these six ministries for the time being, otherwise there would be a vacuum," Rajic explained. Soljic said the decision to appoint him defence minister of Herzeg-Bosnia had been a wise one, because the fact that he was the defence minister of both the Federation and Herzeg-Bosnia would actually facilitate the administrative merging of the two components of the Federal Armed Forces. Rajic added that the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina was as late as Herzeg-Bosnia in transferring authority to Federation bodies. (hina) as 231708 MET jun 96