BOSNIAN CROATS CALL ON POWELL TO MEDIATE

MOSTAR, April 12 (Hina) - The Croatian National Assembly of Bosnia- Herzegovina on Thursday asked the United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to mediate in the settlement of the dispute between the assembly and the international community. Our only aim is to solve the crisis via dialogue and we condemn any kind of violence and repressive measures, regardless of who takes them. Therefore we appeal to you, Mr. Powell, to exert your authority and call on the international community's representatives to accept dialogue and abandon the use of force against the legitimate demands of the Croat people in Bosnia, read an open letter which the assembly forwarded to the US official who is coming to Bosnia on Friday. The assembly added that it had to forward the open letter as it was not made possible for the elected representatives of Bosnian Croat people to meet Powell. The Assembly said it viewed Powell's visit as hope and encouragement which may contribute to the settlement of the gravest political crisis in the country since the conclusion of the 1995 Dayton peace accords. The Assembly was set up by the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia - Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) and a few other Bosnian Croat parties that believed that the changes of the electoral rules for the last November election in Bosnia were to the detriment of the Croats, who are the smallest constituent people in Bosnia. The changes were introduced by the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe). Later on, the Assembly declared the Croat self-rule in the Croat-populated Bosnian areas. The international community sees the self-rule as an illegal parallel body of authority. (hina) ms