PRESS CONFERENCE BY HERZEG-BOSNIA'S PRIME MINISTER

MOSTAR, Jan 4 (HABENA/Hina) - Herzeg-Bosnia's Prime Minister Jadranko Prlic told a news conference in Mostar on Tuesday that peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina could be reached only through negotiations, said Herzeg-Bosnia's HABENA news agency. Prlic said the Moslems did not observe a Christmas truce. "A Moslem offensive in the Lasva Valley during the cease-fire suggests that the aim of their policy is to seize the Croatian enclaves in central Bosnia," he said. Prlic said the Croatian enclaves in central Bosnia would not be evacuated, but defended, as their pre-war population was mainly Croat. "We have paid dearly the alliance with the Moslems, but nevertheless we are ready for negotiations with both them and the Serbs. The external borders of Bosnia-Herzegovina are defined, while the internal ones depend on how much territory we manage to defend," he stressed. "Bosnia-Herzegovina is a state in the making and every instance of disregard for any of the three constituent nations will mean its disappearance. The Croats want to preserve Bosnia- Herzegovina in order to protect their co-nationals outside the boundaries of Herzeg-Bosnia," Prlic concluded. 041721 MET jan 94