FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER SUPPORTS UN HIGH REPRESENTATIVE TO BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, March 9 (Hina) - French Foreign Minster Hubert Vedrine voiced his support to decisions of the international community's high representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Wolfgang Petritsch, to sack four senior officials of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BiH). Vedrine stressed the need of a consistent implementation of the Dayton Agreement. The Dayton Agreement must be implemented and the Constitution of Bosnia-Herzegovina respected, Vedrine said at a Sarajevo news conference Friday, in comment on the dismissal of HDZ president and Croat member at the Bosnian Presidency, Ante Jelavic, and three other senior party officials. According to Vedrine, Petritsch in this case made a decision which was self-imposed. Vedrine arrived in Sarajevo for a two-day visit to show support to the newly-elected authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina, established through the cooperation of parties joined into the Alliance for Changes. The new authorities in Bosnia have the responsibility to completely turn their backs on the tragic policy of nationalists, the French Foreign Minister said. Asked about the stance of official Paris regarding voiced suggestions on the reorganisation of Bosnia-Herzegovina into a canton country, Vedrine said one needs to focus on implementing the Dayton peace accord, not its amendments. The so-called Croat National Assembly, led by the HDZ party, practically established parallel institutions of authority in the country at a convention in Mostar on March 3, which prompted High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch to replace Ante Jelavic as the Bosnian Presidency's Croat member and HDZ leader and suspend three other senior HDZ officials. (hina) lml