WHICH FEDERATION?

SARAJEVO, Aug 10 (Hina - by Ranko Mavrak) - Negotiations on transferring authority from Herzeg-Bosnia and the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina to federal institutions continued in Sarajevo on Friday, after Kornblum's futile attempts on Thursday to get federal partners to give their placet to a draft agreement proposed by the US administration. This time, the partners met away from prying eyes, protected by space-age security at US Embassy building in Sarajevo. After the marathon talks on Thursday, a clearly disgruntled Kornblum merely told reporters that the failure to reach an agreement indicated the depth of the problems plaguing the Federation and that he expected both sides, especially the Moslem side, to increase their efforts to reach a solution. Kornblum's words made it clear to any politically literate person where the trouble lay. He himself left the federal partners to finish their homework before his boss Christopher leaves for the Geneva meeting with presidents Tudjman, Izetbegovic and Milosevic. However, just as the U.S. diplomat was heading toward the exit of the Bosnian Presidency building, the Federation Vice-President Ejup Ganic and the Republic of Bosnia Prime Minister Hasan Muratovic materialised in the press room, declaring the negotiations had failed because the Croat side had refused to set the exact date of the abolition of Herzeg-Bosnia. Asked how could that be if Kornblum insisted that it was the Moslem side which was supposed to make an effort, Ganic paused and said: "Well, he probably meant we should exert more pressure on the Croats to abolish Herzeg-Bosnia". Unfortunately, none of the Croat officials talked to reporters, and the Sarajevo media conveniently ignored Kornblum's unequivocal warning about the source of the trouble. President Zubak's Office on Friday issued a statement explaining that a preliminary agreement had been reached while Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic and Carl Bildt were still present at the Federation Forum. But no sooner than the door closed behind them, Muratovic rejected what had already been settled and "thus personally influenced the results of the Federation Forum session," as Zubak's statement put it. That something was seriously wrong was obvious from Kornblum's and his associates' flustered dashing to and fro in the corridors of the Presidency, running messages between the federal partners. The U.S. diplomat did not miss the opportunity to express his regret that Izetbegovic had not participated in the talks. The President of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina was at the time on a "private visit" to Turkey, as an official statement said, so Ganic and Muratovic alternately did the "good guy, bad guy" act. Muratovic on Saturday shared his diagnosis on Herzeg-Bosnia as a "cancer eating away at the Federation and the Dayton Agreement" and advised "urgent surgery." Accusing Zubak of "cheap political trickery," Muratovic said the main goal of the Herzeg-Bosnia Croats (apart from getting rich) was to disrupt the Dayton Agreement and create a new political crisis in order to maintain the status quo. Such hurling of accusations and insults between the highest Croat and Bosniac officials hasn't been seen for a long time, indicating that the federal project reached an all-time low. Why has there been no progress for such a long time? "Because there is no Federation. It does not exist except insofar as there is a president, a vice-president and a few ministers. It is an authority without a state," the 'Party for Bosnia' leader, Haris Silajdzic, commented. According to the former prime minister, all the meetings since Washington and Vienna have been "strange." "They only served to water down the Federation," he said. "Basically, they are expecting us to swallow their story - something like 'See, we are taking a firm stand against Herzeg- Bosnia. See how patriotic we are? Vote for us,'" he said. "All these shenanigans are about attracting voters by taking a hard-line approach. One should ask both Croat and Moslem leaders what they had done so far," says Silajdzic. "It is not just my opinion. The Americans think so too, they told me so. All this is a pre-election game, it's common or garden demagogy and has nothing to do with resolving the Federation's problems," was Silajdzic's verdict. Election games or not, this tug-of-war about Herzeg-Bosnia has lasted long enough. To enter the post-election period with all these problems unsolved would be a catastrophe for both Croats and Moslems. Right now, only the Serbs seem to be ready for this part of the political battle for Bosnia. (hina) lm as 101756 MET aug 96