SARAJEVO HDZ BRANCH HOLDS PRE-ELECTION GATHERING

SARAJEVO, Aug 25 (Hina) - The Sarajevo Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) city council on Sunday held a pre-election meeting which was addressed by the highest Bosnian HDZ officials. Bosnian HDZ president Bozo Rajic stressed that the status of Croats in Sarajevo would be organized on the basis of equality, recalling that Croats had never wished anything but the right to decide on their own destiny. "Today, our choice is peace," Rajic said, describing the Dayton agreement as a historic compromise by which Croats had accepted a federation with the Moslems as the final goal. Bosnian HDZ vice-president Kresimir Zubak, also the party's presidential candidate for the Bosnian Presidency, warned that Bosnia-Herzegovina was possible only as a country of equality among nationalities where a wide local and regional autonomy would exist. "Only so can we, Croats, have our own religion and our territory in Bosnia," Zubak said. Bosnian HDZ vice-president Jadranko Prlic said that Croats in Bosnia had never been stronger, thanks to the results achieved by this party and to the strength of the common Croat man. He described the Federation as the permanent resolution for the Croat people and stressed that Bosnia would not be a part of the Balkans, but of European integrations, for which a radical change in the conduct so far was necessary. President of the Sarajevo HDZ city council Jozo Leutar said that it was necessary to guarantee equality to the Croat people, announcing an agreement on the reorganization of Sarajevo in order to ensure this. Among many guests at the meeting were deputy International Peace Coordinator, Michael Steiner, Democratic Action Party (SDA) vice-president Edhem Bicakcic, Croatian Ambassador to Bosnia Darinko Bago and other Croat representatives. (hina) lm 251844 MET aug 96