SARAJEVO, Oct 19 (Hina) - Representatives at the Serb entity Assembly in Bosnia-Herzegovina, members of the Democratic Action Party (SDA) and the opposition Joint List, on Saturday left Sarajevo for Banja Luka accompanied by
representatives of Carl Bildt's Office. They are to take part in the constitutive session of the newly elected Republika Srpska Parliament, spokesman of Bildt's Office Colum Murphy said on Saturday. Murphy confirmed that the legislators arrived in Banja Luka without difficulties and the road on which they travelled had been under increased IFOR supervision.
SARAJEVO, Oct 19 (Hina) - Representatives at the Serb entity
Assembly in Bosnia-Herzegovina, members of the Democratic Action
Party (SDA) and the opposition Joint List, on Saturday left
Sarajevo for Banja Luka accompanied by representatives of Carl
Bildt's Office.
They are to take part in the constitutive session of the newly
elected Republika Srpska Parliament, spokesman of Bildt's Office
Colum Murphy said on Saturday.
Murphy confirmed that the legislators arrived in Banja Luka
without difficulties and the road on which they travelled had been
under increased IFOR supervision. #L#
What was necessary at this moment was not to level locations
on which historical buildings used to stand, but to calm inter-
ethnic tensions, Murphy said, adding that today's session could
offer such possibility only if representatives seriously understood
this necessity.
He also confirmed that the High Representative's deputy,
Michael Steiner, had held talks with president of the Serb entity
Biljana Plavsic on Friday, of which the focus was on an attempt of
the Serb authorities to bulldoze the ground where the Ferhadija
mosque once stood. After an intervention of the international
community representatives, the works were temporarily stopped, but
Murphy said on Saturday that the Office of the High Representative
was especially surprised because the Pale media never even
mentioned the Ferhadija mosque when reporting about the Plavsic-
Steiner meeting.
More accurate reporting would primarily be of use to the
public in the Serb entity, but also to their leaders, as they kept
talking that they wanted to join the international community,
Murphy said.
Bosnian Serb television on Friday night reported that Bildt's
Office and IFOR command had intervened because of the digging of
some grave, so the whole incident tried to be presented as a
communal problem.
According to Pale, workers of the Banja Luka municipal
services had attempted to remove animal bones found at the site.
(hina) lm
191350 MET oct 96